The Broken Link
by Country Timelord
Summary: What happens when, something the the Time Lord Doctor does back in the Human Doctor and Rose's universe is threatening to end all that. How are Rose and the human Doctor going to cope?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Broken Link**

**Chapter 1**

The Doctor walked up the brick steps to his home. The sun was already setting behind his back as he slid his key into the lock and pushed the door open. He ran his hand over his face in a frustrated motion; while, he walked through the door and dropped his keys on the table beside the door. That had been the second field mission this week, and he felt like he was drowning in the paper work that came along with being a team leader.

Part of him wondered if it was worth it. Surely, he could have gotten a job with a university or any other organization with his knowledge and accolades. There was something still drawing him in though. A feeling that he needed to prove himself to Rose still persisted after nine years of marriage. It wasn't that Rose ever doubted him, but his single heart was born filled with uncertainty. Donna had imprinted it on him, and the Time Lord Doctor hadn't helped in telling him he needed fixing.

As he moved up the ranks, he found himself buried more and more by clutter. He began to feel like it wasn't the aliens weren't the biggest threat he had to face in a day, but bleeding to death from the number of paper cuts he was prone to receiving.

He looked up to see his daughter studiously reading her notebook on the couch, and his son setting up battle fields between his action figures and a few of his sister's dolls.

His son was the first to notice that he had walked in and got to his feet and ran over to him, wrapping his arms around his leg and holding him tight. The Doctor ruffled his son's thick brown hair fondly and picked him up into his arms. After coming home too late for dinner and bedtime for yesterday and the day before, it felt good to hold him again.

"Hello, Jack," the Doctor greeted. "Did you have fun today?"

Jack nodded excitedly and smiled widely at his dad. "I ran ilots/i in the yard, Mummy wouldn't play though."

Jack frowned and stuck his bottom lip out in a pout.

"Well, I'm sure Mummy just wasn't feeling up to running," the Doctor told his son, shifting him a bit in his grip. "She's gotta think about your little brother or sister."

Frowning, Jack peered at his father through thick rimmed glasses. "Does that mean that he doesn't like running?"

"He might be a igirl/i," said the Doctor's daughter, while she came up, closing her book and holding it close to her chest. The Doctor tried to get a glimpse of the cover, but she was covering it carefully. "And, Mummy can't run with the baby because, our little brother or sister could get hurt, right Daddy?"

Smiling, the Doctor nodded and let Jack down on the floor. "That's right, Ava," he replied, squeezing her shoulder and trying to get a peak at her book, but she pulled away.

"You aren't s'posed to read it yet," Ava protested, to her father's stunned expression.

"You could at least tell me what it is," the Doctor pouted.

"It's no good," Jack told his father. "The only one who gets to read it is Mummy."

Sticking out his lower lip in a mock pout, the Doctor crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"So, my Ava isn't my little girl anymore?" the Doctor asked, pretending to be heartbroken as he collapsed on the couch and clutched at his chest, groaning. He squeezed his eyes shut and made noises that sounded like he swallowed a working vacuum cleaner.

Ava shook her dad's shoulders from where he lay, but the Doctor only groaned louder and grunted out.

"No, can't…go…on…" he gasped. "Too...much…pain…"

"You're faking," Ava said a-matter-of-factly, while she crossed her arms, still holding her book and staring at him.

The Doctor chuckled and got to his feet, while Jack pushed him back on the couch. He pulled a thermometer out of seemingly nowhere and shoved it in the Doctor's mouth before he could grunt his protests. He spit out the plastic stick and handed it back to his son, as he got to his feet after the first second of shock.

"What are you doing?"

"You sick," Jack said. "I make you better."

"Thank you, Jack," the Doctor said melodramatically, as he sat back down on the couch and pulled Jack up on his knee. "I'm all better."

"Good," Jack said, hugging him and glancing at Ava going back to her book, every now and then she scribbled in something with a black ink pen with a furry red topper. The Doctor smiled to himself before letting Jack scamper down to the floor and getting to his feet again.

"Daddy?"

The Doctor looked up to where Ava was sitting when he heard her voice. He smiled and was about to say something like 'So, you decided to show me what you're doing after all,' but the seriousness in her eyes stopped him.

"Hmm?"

"Never mind," Ava said quickly, as she looked away from him and back at her book, as if she was angry with it.

"What is it, Ava?" the Doctor encouraged.

"Nothing," Ava said, while she hung her head a bit lower.

"Tell me, sweetheart," the Doctor encouraged, kneeling down to her level and looking her in the eyes.

"Are you…are you," Ava hesitated in the words she was gonna say before shaking her head and starting over. "There was this girl at school on Friday, and she said that the reason you worked real late was because you didn't wanna be home. That's not true, right?"

Sadness leached its way across the Doctor's face as he held his looked lovingly at his daughter. "Of course not, Ava. I don't care what other people say, but I want to be here. Why else would I come back?"

Ava shrugged her shoulders and stared at her feet. Her long brown hair fell over her eyes covered her high cheek bones and chocolate eyes.

"Who told you that I didn't want to be home?" the Doctor asked almost fiercely.

"Just a girl in class, I don't even know her that well," Ava admitted honestly. "I couldn't tell you her name if I tried."

The Doctor nodded satisfied, but all at once he regretted listening to the teachers at the school and allowing Ava to advance three whole levels up the system. Maybe it was too much of a stretch for her. She was doing so well academically in her studies that the Doctor and Rose hadn't even really thought about how well she would acclimatize to her new classmates.

"Ava, do all the kids bully you like this one girl?" the Doctor asked, while fearing the worst.

Hastily, Ava shook her head. "Not at all, most of them really like me, but they are really tall, Daddy, like up to your belt," Ava said, as she stood up and leaned against his leg, her head clearing his knee by a few inches. "They asked me to help them with long division."

Ava sniffed haughtily in a way the Doctor knew he learned him. Part of him knew that he should probably reprimand her for being rude, but a bigger part told him not to.

"That's good," he said instead, as he watched Rose finally appear from inside the kitchen.

The Doctor stood a little straighter at the sight of his wife. She was wearing a light blue dress with a darker swirling design. It hugged her prominent baby bump comfortably as she walked towards the Doctor and he met her half-way.

"Hello," the Doctor whispered in her ear and waited for her mimicked reply. The single word said back and forth between the two of them meant so much from so little. It was like their secret code, right up there with 'pink and yellow,' and 'the stuff of legends.'

"Sorry I'm late again," the Doctor apologized. "And, that I didn't come in the kitchen straight away, but these beings I'd like to call children are very…" the Doctor looked at Jack and Ava before murmuring in his wife's ear with a stage whisper. "Distracting."

"I'm not distracting," Jack said with a grunt. "And, I'm inot/i a child. I'm three."

Staring pointedly at Jack, Rose raised an eyebrow and knelt down. "Well, if you're all grown up then you can go to work, right?"

Jack nodded his head back and forth vigorously.

"And, move out?" the Doctor added, linking his arm around Rose's waist and pulled her closer to him.

Jack's nodding suddenly stopped.

"I don't wanna move out," Jack whined.

"Oh, no," Rose said shaking her head. "Mummies and Daddies only let children stay in their house…except for some…but we won't have it in our house. Besides, Ava might want her own room."

Ava giggled from where she was, but stayed seated as she scribbled more. The Doctor noticed this and ruffled her hair as he bent his knees slightly.

"Mummy," Jack asked, looking a bit dejected.

"Yes?" Rose asked, stifling her laughter and putting on a serious mask.

"Can I be a child again?" Jack asked, while he wiped his nose on his sleeve and hugged Rose.

"Are you sure?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because, I'm pretty sure paying taxes might really interest you."

Jack shook his head and clung to Rose tighter.

"Okay, come on, you two," Rose said straightening out and running her hand down the small of her back, "dinner."

Rose opened the swinging door leading in the kitchen and let Ava and Jack slide past her. The Doctor circled his arms around her while she stood in the doorway, running his hand in circles on her lower back. Rose made a noise of pleasure and leaned her head against the Doctor's chest briefly, letting the steady rhythm of his heartbeat soothe her nerves.

"One more month," the Doctor murmured in her ear. "One more month and we can meet this little one."

Rose nodded against his chest as he pressed a kiss into the top of her head and pulled back. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table before taking the bowl of spaghetti and distributing it between everyone. After he was done, he pulled out his own seat and sat down in it heavily, as Ava and Jack's heads went down simultaneously and began to eat.

"So, Ava," the Doctor said looking up from his plate and glancing at her. "What d'you do today? I already heard from Jack."

Ava grinned at Rose who giggled and went back to her own plate.

"Mummy helped me with my book," Ava said mischievously.

The Doctor was about to fake another episode of 'heartbreak,' but Rose grabbed his arm before he could try. "No dying at the table," Rose said. "I'm not carrying you over to the couch."

Ignoring her father's rebuttal, Ava began to twirl her noodles around her fork with concentration. She only looked up when Jack suddenly spoke and the caught her attention.

"Did you see aliens today?" Jack asked, looking up at the Doctor expectantly.

"Not at the table, Jack," the Doctor cut him off, giving him a stern look before glancing at Rose.

It had become an accepted principle to not discuss the Doctor's missions at the dinner table. Anywhere else was fine, but Rose and the Doctor were both adamant that dining was the one event that should be separate from Rose's previous and the Doctor's continuing work life.

"But," Jack tried again.

"No, Jack," the Doctor said more sharply to cut him off.

Looking down at his plate, Jack gave a muttered 'yes sir,' before Rose switched the subject.

"Jack, did you finish this weekend's homework?" Rose asked.

"Not yet," Jack told her, looking up at Rose and giving her a winning smile, which he begrudgingly knew she was immune to thanks to the Doctor.

"How come?" the Doctor asked, putting his fork down and leaning his elbows forward on the table.

"I didn't get it," Jack said shamefully, he had been struggling lately, and he wasn't used to it.

"Did you ask the teacher?" the Doctor asked.

"No."

"Ava?"

"No."

"Mummy?"

"No."

The Doctor took a deep breath and tried not to get frustrated. "Do you want me to help?"

Jack nodded eagerly, before smiling his thanks and explaining the lesson he was having trouble with.

Back in the Alpha Universe, the Time Lord Doctor stumbled into his TARDIS. Pain was bursting from every inch of his body now. The Ood song still ringing in his ears as he threw his coat on the coral strut with a strained grunt. The brief thought hit him that he would probably never wear Janis Joplin's coat again.

He closed his eyes briefly, the regeneration energy coursing through his veins.

"I don't wanna go," he cried as golden energy consumed him. His whole brain felt like it was on fire as he screamed. His features morphed and altered as the change completed itself.

The Doctor had taken a matter of minutes to explain the grammar lesson to his son. Soon, Jack was writing and editing the sentences he had been assigned quickly and without fault.

The Doctor sat on the end of the battered leather couch, with Rose next to him. Her legs bent underneath herself as she leaned onto his shoulder and closed her eyes. Ava and Jack, once he was done with his homework, came up to them as well. Ava curled up on the Doctor's lap and Jack sat next to Rose, stretching out and resting his head on her leg.

"Can you tell us what happened now, Daddy?" Jack asked sleepily.

The Doctor nodded and almost subconsciously reached for Rose's hand. She grasped his tightly and placed it lightly against her baby-bump.

Breathing out, the Doctor went on to explain an alien running amuck in down-town London and how he had to get the whole thing settled out with most of his team distracted with another disturbance. He left off most of the details, preferring to just give a basic overview and explaining that he would have been home sooner, if it hadn't been for the mountain of forms that had been dropped on his desk within minutes of returning to base.

He was just finishing his explanation when he felt a sudden pain enter his head. It wasn't excruciating, but it was getting there. Removing his glasses, the Doctor rubbed his eyes and got up from the couch. He glanced at the clock; it was close enough to 8:15 for him to proclaim bedtime.

"Okay, you two," the Doctor said, motioning up the steps. "Brush your teeth and get into your jimjams. I'll be up in a minute to tuck you in, alright?"

Jack followed Ava up the steps. When they reached the top of the steps; they glanced back at their father, who smiled up at them reassuringly.

Rose met her husband outside of their children's room after he tucked in Ava and Jack after a hurried story. She led him across the hall without a word and into their room. She sat him down on the edge of the bed and kissed him chastely on the lips.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked,

He shrugged as he began to unbutton his work shirt and reveal a tight-fitted dark blue t-shirt. He picked it up and chucked it in the hamper as he got to his feet and began to pick out some pajamas for himself and a nightgown for Rose. He brought it over to her, as he turned away from her and began to change while she did.

"I know you too well for you to get away with that," Rose told him. "You just sent your children, who have your sleeping habits to bed at 7:45. What's going on? Rough day?"

The Doctor shrugged again, as he turned to face her as he buttoned up the front of his shirt. "No more than usual," he replied. "It's just a headache, that's all."

Rose nodded and sat against the headboard while the Doctor scooted in next to her.

"I'll be fine in the morning," he assured her, and he really hoped he would. The pain in his head had migrated from his head to down his spine now.

"You better be," Rose joked, pulling the Doctor closer to her. "I can't have you getting sick for tomorrow."

The Doctor grunted, as drowsiness washed over him. "What happens tomorrow?"

"You're taking me to the doctor at Torchwood remember?" Rose prompted, pushing on him playfully.

"Oh, right," the Doctor drew out the words. "Sorry, I've sort of lost track of time lately."

"I know," Rose muttered her understanding. "You've been working too hard."

Slowly, Rose drifted off to sleep, and the Doctor was quick to follow despite the pain increasing in his head and down his back.

The New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New Doctor stepped into his TARDIS after leaving Amy. Hopefully, he would return in a bit more of a timely manner this time. Now that the threat of dealing with Prisoner Zero was over, the Doctor could throw more attention into his ship. He skimmed his finger over the console nostalgically, remembering the last time the TARDIS had to change.

It was right after the Time War. The TARDIS—like himself—had been injured badly in the closing of the Time Lock. It was never easy on the old girl, and she would spend weeks of being queasy and sick.

"There we are now, Old Girl," the Doctor cooed, still getting used to his new voice. "What do say to a quick stay in the vortex, while we both get some well deserved rest, eh?"

The TARDIS rumbled her agreement, as the Doctor began to circle around her. She ran fairly smoothly until she shook suddenly, knocking the new Doctor down on the new glass floor.

"What was that for?" the Doctor asked. "Did I say something? You know I can't control what comes out of my mouth half the time after I regenerated. I'm still learning, like a child. Lucky me, I probably imprinted off of Amy Pond's demeanor…" the Doctor made a slight shuddering noise before continuing. "That's not to say that's a bad thing it's just, can you imagine a nine hundred something year-old man imprinting off of a young girl?"

The TARDIS projected a picture of a certain young blonde into the Doctor's head.

"Well now," the Doctor started. "That's just not fair."

The TARDIS persisted, showing him a picture of the Doctor's human clone into his mind as well.

"What?" the Doctor felt like shouting at the TARDIS.

The TARDIS passed a few dozen Gallifrean symbols in front of him using the console monitor.

"But, that's not possible," the Doctor muttered and the TARDIS showed him an image of himself. "What d'you mean it's all my fault?"

The TARDIS was silent in her explanation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A hammering pain rang through the Doctor's skull; as he opened his eyes the next morning. The bright light streamed through the window and shot yet more smoldering lightning into his brain. His single heart seemed to pound and skip beats; as he rolled out of bed and glanced at the clock; he was running late by a full hour.

Cursing under his breath, the Doctor began to rush around the room before bolting into the kitchen. He picked up a banana from the fruit bowl to see Rose sitting at the kitchen biting her lip. The Doctor rushed over to her, thinking she was sick, but when he knelt in front of her she burst into laughter.

Bewildered, the Doctor leapt back and stared at her. "What?" he asked, looking her up and down, "What's going on?"

Rose shook her head and continued to stare at him. Her eyes glinted with mirth, as she got to her feet, and draped her arms around his neck, while her stomach protruded against his. A sharp kick connected with his stomach, and he frowned.

"Your offspring is laughing too," Rose told him, before glancing down. "Pants, Doctor."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow before looking down and seeing millions of Cookie Monsters grinning manically at him. _Rose and his offspring weren't the only ones laughing_.

"Right…erm…I better get some pants on and…get to work…" the Doctor said, trailing off and jerking a thumb in the direction of the stairs.

Rose caught his shoulder. "Don't worry about it," Rose told him, but to her husband's shocked expression she added, "Work I mean. By all means put on some pants. I already called, you've got today off, and Jack and Ava have already caught the bus."

The Doctor visibly relaxed as he nodded and kissed Rose's forehead. "You, Rose Tyler, are amazing."

She entwined her fingers with the Doctor's and stared at his face, as if she was searching for something. His hair was in complete disarray and graying at the temples (she had been thinking for a while that it made him look handsome, but right now it just made him look tired). His face while content was drawn and tired with dark grey circles underneath her eyes. Pale seemed to be the best way to describe the way he looked now. His usually whitish skin was downright gray and his hair seemed to be limp.

"You feeling okay?" Rose asked him, as they climbed the steps hand in hand.

Nodding, the Doctor assured Rose that he was fine, but she wasn't buying it.

"How's your head?" Rose asked, as she slipped into their room ahead of him and sat on the bed as the springs groaned beneath.

The Doctor grunted a reply; while, he tugged out a pair of jeans from the dresser and began to pull them on with considerably more concentration than it should have taken.

"Doctor?" Rose challenged.

He sat down next to her and brushed away a lock of her blonde hair from her face. "It's nothing a day with you won't solve."

Rose was hesitant, but she agreed and let her husband help her to stand up and walk back down the steps.

Once again, they were seated around the kitchen table (fully clothed this time), the Doctor munched on his banana and pushed a bowl of cereal in Rose's direction. His head was still feeling like it was being held underneath an electrified weight. The pain seemed to circle from barely there to incredible. Each time the circuit was completed the Doctor grew more and more concerned with his health and Rose's. She couldn't catch this as well could she? What about the kids?

The Doctor mentally shook his head and favored studying his banana. "Have you ever considered the amazement that evolution has bestowed on the wonder of the banana?" he asked Rose. "I mean look at it Rose, a thick skin fit to protect the soft insides, and seeds that are small and tough enough to pass…"

"Doctor," Rose cut him off.

"Hmm?"

"The last time you gave me a lecture on bananas you were in a hospital bed from an exploded land mine," Rose reminded him, letting the statement sink in. "If that was what warranted fruit as a distraction, then what's wrong now? Tell me."

Looking defeated, the Doctor lowered the banana to the table in favor of grabbing his wife's hand. He offered a small smile before speaking. "I don't know, Rose. I really don't, and I'm sorry."

Rose shook her head. "How can it be your fault for being sick?"

The Doctor shrugged. "It felt like the right thing to say?" he tried.

Rose bit out a laugh and got to her feet. "You wanna go to the doctor?" Rose asked him. "We're gonna be at Torchwood anyway, for my appointment."

The Doctor shook his head immediately. "Nothing they can do," he told her honestly. He didn't add that if he hadn't been able to figure it out, then Torchwood would be completely lost. He was a completely unique species, not human and not Time Lord. Anything he was had to be assumed as a baseline for what–and who–he was.

"Right," Rose said slowly.

"Hey, don't worry," the Doctor assured her, "We'll figure it out. You know that. We're two of a kind, Shiver and Shake. I'm your plus one, remember?"

"I thought I was Plus One?" Rose asked, breaking into a smile, her teeth biting down slightly on her tongue.

"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth," the Doctor said getting to his feet, the pain in his head residing for now. "Will never just be my 'Plus One.'"

The Doctor consumed her in a hug, and Rose groaned against his tight grip.

"Not much Earth defending has been happening for me for years," Rose muttered against the Doctor's chest, not spiteful, more longing of the fact that she and the Doctor hadn't 'run' just the two of them for a long time.

"No, but being married to me is pretty dangerous," the Doctor joked.

"Nah, you haven't blown up any home appliances for at least two months," Rose told him, as he circled around her and began to gently massage her shoulders. "I think you're beginning to show signs of old-age."

The Doctor squeaked in shock. "But…but I haven't even had my mid-life crisis yet, I was looking forward to it. I was reading that most men in their mid-life crisis try to rekindle their youth by mimicking and fulfilling dreams from their childhood and teen years."

"And, that's a good thing?" Rose asked incredulously.

"Oi," the Doctor exclaimed. "You should hear about my childhood dreams."

Rose shook her head and just ran her fingers across his forehead and brushing some hair out of his eyes. She was careful to note the slight hint of a fever under his skin. Kissing where she had brushed the hair away she stood up with him following suit.

"Come on, the appointment's in half an hour," Rose told him, as she walked to the door and the Doctor grabbed her coat, offering to slip it on. She thanked him, as he grabbed his keys and walked out the door.

***

The rooms of the Torchwood medical wing was to say the least, clinical. Sterile white walls and gray linoleum floors were not the most welcoming place in the world, but it would do. It wasn't that the Doctor and Rose had much of a choice either. With the Doctor being half alien, there was always the risk of him getting found out about, and their children as quarter-Time Lords would suffer similar if not greater risks than as their father.

Rose was sitting up on the examination table as Dr. Jones flipped through her notes and gave Rose and the Doctor a smile. She wasn't quite the Martha that the Doctor had known back in his universe, for one thing she was much quieter, but she still had a caring heart and zest that was familiar. She rattled off some statics of their child's growth rate and how they were all within normal parameters for a human pregnancy, just like Ava and Jack. After she had finished, she put her clipboard down on the table and began to question Rose and the Doctor.

"So, how have you been?" Dr. Jones asked swiveling around on a rolling chair to look at Rose. "Any pains, or…"

Rose shook her head. "Nope, I've been good." Rose said lightly.

"That's good, any concerns?" Dr. Jones continued.

"Nope," Rose said, looking at the Doctor who shrugged.

Dr. Jones grinned and held out her hand for the Doctor and Rose to shake. "Well then, Dr. and Mrs. Tyler, I'm pleased to tell you that you're in almost perfect health. My only concern is there's a slight raise in your blood pressure. Has anything been stressing you out lately, any problem with the kids or…I don't mean to intrude."

"That's fine," Rose said, silencing Dr. Jones and jerking a thumb over to the Doctor. "He's been sick that's all."

Dr. Jones looked satisfied and she scooted over to the Doctor. Her trained eyes appraised him and looked to see what the matter was. "Now that your wife mentions it, Dr. Tyler you don't look well at all."

The Doctor subconsciously backed away from Dr. Jones and stood almost against the wall of the small medical unit. Rose took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze to reassure him and he stepped forward.

"It's just a headache, that's all," the Doctor pushed on, "I'm sure it's nothing. It'll pass in time. I don't even really notice it now."

Not looking convinced, Dr. Jones' hand went around her stethoscope and silently asked if she could check him out. The Doctor reluctantly agreed and let the doctor who looked and now acted too much like Martha check his heart beat. He already knew what she would fine.

She frowned for minute and readjusted the ear pieces as if that were the cause of what she was hearing.

"Dr. Tyler you're heart, it's almost like it doesn't want to beat. I've…I've never heard anything like it. It's convulsing in your chest, with all respect, Dr. Tyler you shouldn't even be standing." Dr. Jones let her stethoscope hang around her neck once again, as she pulled out a thermometer and stuck it under the Doctor's tongue without asking.

"Keep that in until it beeps," Dr. Jones said, when she turned to Rose and told her she could get dressed out of her gown and into her regular clothes. She would be back after she was done to see what the thermometer said.

"Thank you, Dr. Jones," Rose said with a small smile as the young doctor turned and left.

The Doctor handed Rose the pile of clothes that she had been wearing. Quickly, Rose slipped back on her dress and stepped into some flat shoes that looked rather like sandals.

Watching dejectedly from the corner, the Doctor crossed his eyes to get a better look at the thermometer as if it was an assault to his dignity and manliness.

"Wose, tust ee I'm ine," the Doctor said, as he held the thermometer in place under his tongue. "It ust ooo much ime at ork."

Rose plastered on a smile and took his hand, as she sat into one on the plastic seats and urged the Doctor into the one next to her. "I'm sure you're right; just let the doctor check you over, be a patient patient for once Doctor."

Reluctantly, the Doctor nodded his agreement and pulled the thermometer out when it finally beeped and checked the reading. "100.7, that's not that's bad," he guaranteed Rose. "No need to worry this little one either."

The Doctor gently ran his fingers over the smooth fabric of Rose's dress and murmured Gallifrean to the life growing beneath. Rose covered his hands with hers and guided his hands to where she felt the baby and watched the grin spread across his face. The gentle pressure on the Doctor's hands greeted him, as he rubbed a circular pattern into Rose's belly.

"Besides, if your mother finds out about how I'm causing you stress, a headache will be the least of my problems," the Doctor joked.

Giggling with him, Rose wrapped her arms around him as the door opened and Dr. Jones appeared in the doorway.

"There you go, Dr. Jones," the Doctor said handing the thermometer back, which he had switched off. "98.4, perfectly within the normal range, now if you don't mind. I'd like to spend the rest of my day off with my wife. What do you think, Rose?"

Rose grinned sheepishly at Dr. Jones; while, she got to her feet and was led out of the room before Dr. Jones could blink.

***

The Doctor opened the door to Rose and his house, dropped his keys on the table and sat down next to Rose on the couch. He closed his eyes against a headache coming on and gripped the arm rest. Black spots danced in his peripheral vision, but he forced the feeling to pass from his mind. He got up after a minute and pushed a DVD into the player.

"What are we watching?" Rose asked him. She noticed that the Doctor was gritting his teeth as another headache moved in, but she knew that he'd rather just take his mind off of it, and on his day off, she thought he deserved it.

"Back to the Future," the Doctor proclaimed. "This universe's version, where they travel in a VW Beetle instead of a Delorean and there tomato people–they're a bit random, but you know."

"You're making that up," Rose told him, pushing just the right button for the Doctor to settle down on the couch and let him go into a meaningless ramble that ultimately lulled him and her into a restful state. They were only dimly aware that after the title sequence was done, that millions of tiny tomato people started swarming a VW beetle, waving wands at it and chanting 'back to the future,' over and over.

They stayed like that until right before the end of the movie, when the phone rang. The pillow that Rose had been using suddenly gained a mind of his own as he grunted and got to his feet. Rose looked up lazily, expecting some sort of telemarketer so the Doctor could come back to the couch and fall asleep.

She strained to hear the Doctor's drowsy voice from where he stood in the kitchen.

"Hello…hey, Jake, what's wrong this time…can't someone else…what do you mean no one understands…okay…give me an hour, okay? No, I'm fine, it's just…yeah, be right there."

Rose heard the Doctor groan and slam the phone down with more force than she was used to.

"What was that all about?" Rose asked the Doctor. "Alien invasion taking over the London Eye?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I would've resigned if that was it. No, they're having trouble with a new software program, and they can't seem to get it to work."

Rubbing his eyes, the Doctor walked over and sat next to Rose. Briefly, he pulled Rose into a hug before kissing her deeply and standing. "I'll be home in a few hours, I promise, and how hard can it be to explain a couple of microchip processors?"

Rose nodded, cupping his cheek with her hand. "Just try not to work yourself sick okay?"

The Doctor gave her a salute (she was technically still on the Torchwood books and a rank ahead of him) which she returned with another quick kiss before he trudged out the door.

***

The Doctor had spent the last hour trying to explain to Jake and Pete how to work the new server, and he had finally gotten it through to them. Why were humans always so thick when it came to this sort of thing? When you were using a microchip instead of a hard drive isn't it obvious that you couldn't allow for the processor to shatter blast the mother board?

Meanwhile, the pain the Doctor's head had grown to substantial levels, and he had slipped away into his office while Jake and Pete worked on some more programming software. He sat down heavily in his large, black rolling chair behind his desk and used the phone to dial Rose. He needed to tell her he was almost through and would be home soon.

"_Hello?_" Rose's voice rang through on the other end of the phone. The Doctor could hear a stand mixer in the background.

"Hi, Sweetheart," the Doctor replied, leaning back in his chair and shutting his eyes tightly. "I won't be too much longer, Rose. Jake and Pete are working on programming right now."

"_That's good, and how are you feeling?_"

The Doctor knew there was no point in denying it to Rose, anyone off the street would have been able to tell that he didn't feel well at all by the sound of his voice. Rose would have no trouble picking out any lie he told her over the phone.

"Pretty crummy," the Doctor answered. "The kids home yet?"

"_They're walking up the drive just as we speak,_" Rose assured him. "_You want me to come get you? You shouldn't be driving if…_"

The Doctor made a noise of protest. "You shouldn't be driving either, Love."

"_I guess you're right._" Rose conceded.

"Hmm," the Doctor agreed, and decided it was time to hang up. "I've gotta go now, see you later."

"_Not if I see you first,_" Rose answered just as he expected her too.

The Doctor put the phone back in its place as he stood up from the chair and saw two Jakes approaching him.

"Doctor," the two Jakes said simultaneously, "Pete said you can go home now."

"Molto-bene," the Doctor said, while holding his hand out to pat the second Jake on the shoulder, but his hand connected with thin air. He felt his feet stumble beneath him and the next thing he knew he was on the floor with Pete and Jake (alone this time) leaning over him. A groan became a scream of pain as spears shot through his consciousness.

His mind kept drifting off in and out of what he thought was real. There was no clear line, everything was dark and hazy.

"R-Rose," he stuttered, clutching at his chest where his heart was going haywire.

She the only thing he could think of. Flashes of her and the kids blazed before his eyes, and he tried to focus.

"Hang in there, Doctor." he heard his father-in-law say.

The Doctor thought he heard Jake on his phone talking to Rose, but he might have seen him speaking into a banana in the corner of his eye as well.

"P-pain, need Rose," the Doctor cried, reaching his hand to try to grab at anything tangible. He felt Pete grip on his hand, giving him a hold on reality. "Help me, please."

The hand around his tightened, but he couldn't hear the reply, just screaming–constant screaming in his ears. Blind pain traveled through his whole body, ran through his veins, and circled him before everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Jack and Ava bolted into the living room and dropped their school bags on the floor. They immediately ran over to Rose, who was talking on the phone. She held up a finger telling them to be quiet for a minute, while she spoke to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Not if I see you first," Rose said with a laugh, letting the words fall off her tongue with nostalgia.

"It's Daddy," Ava whispered in Jack's ear.

"I know who it is," Jack said, crossing his arms and walking over to his mother, who was putting the phone back on the hook.

"I thought Daddy was getting the day off," Ava asked, coming up behind Jack and beating him to the words he was gonna say with a smug grin.

Rose raised an eyebrow at her daughter's actions, and she immediately backed a step away from Jack. Ava gave a muttered sorry before Rose continued.

"Daddy'll be home soon. He just got called in to help with some computer stuff," Rose told them, getting them to pick up their backpacks and head upstairs. She followed them, gripping onto the banister with an effort.

When Rose's feet met the carpeted room of Jack and Ava's shared bedroom, she turned and sat on Jack's bed and motioned for Ava and Jack to join her on the light green duvet. They obliged after setting their backpacks down and sitting next to her. Ava with her legs crossed and looking up as her mother, and Jack fidgeting with the collar of his school shirt and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

Rose ran her hand up and down her daughter's shoulder with one hand and ruffled her son's dark brown hair. It was already in disarray after a full day of school, and him probably tugging at it.

"Listen you two, Daddy's been feeling ill lately, and when he comes home, you need to be on your best behavior, got it?" Rose asked them, and met their simultaneous nods.

"Good," Rose said, not ceasing in rubbing Ava's shoulder or mussing with Jack's hair.

"Mummy?" Jack asked, leaning into Rose's touch. "Is Daddy sick like when we have to stay home from school?"

Rose considered the analogy for a moment before nodding and hugging her son closely.

"Yes, and when you two were sick what did I tell you guys needed a lot of?" Rose asked.

"Rest," Ava jumped in. "And, Daddy said bananas."

Chuckling, Rose kissed her daughter's head. The Doctor and his strange obsessions were already rubbing off on their kids. With any luck they were gonna end up being banana grove farmers on a planet where they seem to be very good at developing sonic weapons. Rose ran her hand down Ava's back and made a slight _oof_ sound when Jack crawled awkwardly into her lap, careful to avoid her baby-bump.

"There we go," Rose muttered, as she helped Jack to get more comfortable as he leaned against her.

"If Daddy's sick like when we had to stay home from school, why doesn't he stay home too?" Ava asked, looking at her mother. Her brown eyes peering at her with a mixture of curiosity and as much worry as a five year old could muster for her father. She used her hands to lift herself up from the bed and readjust herself on the bed.

How was Rose going to answer to that? Telling her daughter that her father was just too busy to ever get sick without everyone at Torchwood going into uproar was probably not the best way to break it to her. Instead, Rose brushed some of the brown hair that had escaped her daughter's ponytail behind her ear.

"Granddad Pete really needs Daddy to give him a hand," Rose said finally.

"Can't it wait until Daddy's better?" Jack asked.

"I wish it could," Rose replied, letting Jack back down on the floor. The phone started to ring and Jack slid out of the way of his mother. She picked it up from the phone in her room and watched to make sure Jack and Ava had started their homework instead of listening to her.

"Hello, Doctor," Rose said, seeing the Doctor's office number on the caller ID. "Run into a snag."

"_Rose, it's me, Jake_" A thick Scottish brogue came on the other end of the line.

Rose tried to keep her stomach from falling down to her feet. "Jake? What are you doing on the Doctor's phone?"

"_He's passed out, Rose,_" Jake replied, letting the words sink in. "_He was in pain and couldn't really see or think straight and just collapsed in his office._"

Rose shook her head trying to deny what she couldn't. "Where is he now?"

"_Pete's taken him to the medical wing,_" Jake told her.

"Okay…okay," Rose muttered, trying to calm herself down. "I'm gonna catch a bus and meet you there, the kids are coming too. I don't have anyone to watch them."

"_I'll come and get you, Rose,_" Jake's voice told her. "_I won't be long just get the kids together and meet me by your door._"

"Thanks, Jake," Rose told him.

***

Ava had finished her homework by the time that Jake arrived and was cradling her journal close to her chest. Jack was close to follow with his work too, and soon the two of them were sitting in the backseat of a Torchwood car quietly. Rose sat next to Jake in the front-seat, they spoke in whispers quiet enough that neither Jack nor Ava could hear them.

"Ava." Jack looked up from where he was sitting and poked his sister in the shoulder. When she didn't respond, he persisted poking her harder and eventually knocking her book to the floor so she had to bed and retrieve it.

"What?" Ava conceded, as she brushed off the cover of her book and looked at it sadly.

Jack looked suddenly lost for words.

"Jack, what is it?" Ava persisted.

"I'm scared," Jack confided.

Ava searched him for a minute before scooting over slightly and gripping  
>his shoulder like she'd seen her daddy do with Mummy right before he went away somewhere for a long time.<p>

"You don't have to be," Ava told him.

"But, Daddy," Jack whispered back.

"No, Jack," Ava fired back fiercely. "He's fine. Just like Mummy said."

"Ava, what if Daddy can't come home?" Jack retorted. "You said that that girl said that Daddy might not want…"

Ava shoved him sharply. "Shut up, Jack!" Ava shouted at him.

"Ava," her mother scolded. "Calm down. We're all gonna be really good for your father, understand?"

"Yes, Mummy," Ava replied. "I…I'm sorry."

Rose softened and reached her hand back to rest it on Ava's knee. "Did you finish your book?"

Ava nodded and passed it over to Rose, but she pushed it back into her  
>hands.<p>

"You wanna give it to your father?" Rose asked her, as Jake pulled up to a stop and Rose, Ava and Jack slid out, while Jake left to park the car. Clouds hung heavily in the skies over the Torchwood building and added to the cramped and gloomy mood.

"Mhm," Ava replied, flipping through a page and skimming over it. "I finished extra quick just for him."

Rose smiled and held out her hand for Ava to take and the other for Jack. Jack hung heavily on her arm, dragging behind his mother and sister. Rose could tell he was worried about seeing his father, but Rose had decided that the best way to mitigate that would be to let him see that his father was alright.

"Are we gonna take Daddy home?" Jack asked.

"If we can," Rose replied. "He might need to stay overnight or something."

Jack nodded satisfied, as they walked through the automatic doors at the front of the building that Rose would have called 'Canary Warf' back home. Here, however, it was just known as Torchwood, even if the general public didn't really know what it did.

"Hello, Rose," a friendly voice said from the front desk.

"Hey, Donna," Rose replied, looking over at the red-head secretary with a hint of nostalgia. "I can't talk long. John's just been sick, and I was wondering if there was any info on where he is?"

Donna smiled and typed rapidly on her computer, while she muttered something about Rose not needing to be on her feet. "Ahh, here we are, room 654," Donna announced, handing her a card. "It's restricted, and I don't know if you still have your card. I can't imagine you would have thought to bring yours from home, what with these little terrors, so just use mine."

Rose took the card gratefully from Donna's proffered hand. "Thanks so much, Donna you're a life saver."

Shrugging, Donna went back to her work while saying, "I'm just a temp."

Ava couldn't help but think about all the stories her dad had told her about a ginger lady named Donna. He said she was the most important woman in all of creation and in a way she was his sister. Ava had told her father once that Donna was who she wanted to grow up to be like. The Doctor had joked back and told her 'I suppose, we picked the right middle name for you then.' There was always a flash of sadness that Ava realized after a few stories, but it was always carefully concealed beneath amazement and wonder.

They stepped into the metal elevators, and Rose slid the card into the reader. The elevator shook and began to ascend to the sixth floor. When the doors opened, Rose gently led her kids down the halls to where she saw Pete and Jackie waiting with twelve-year old Tony standing next to her.

"Oh, Rose," Jackie said, as Rose made it to her parents and little brother. "Pete called me, you really should be home. The Doctor's fine, he can take care of himself."

"Mum," Rose cut her off. "If he could take care of himself he wouldn't be in the hospital."

Pete took this moment to step in between his wife and daughter–the  
>Doctor would have been better, aged and dead if he had let them keep arguing. "Easy now, Rose. The Doctor's better than when you called. He's conscious and asking to see you and the kids."<p>

"And, what were you doing calling him over here?" Rose asked, keeping her voice borderline level. "I told you this morning he wasn't feeling well. What did you think he would have been better in a couple of hours?"

Pete backed off, holding up his hands. "I'm sorry, I take full responsibility, but I didn't know."

"Well, what did you expect, Dad?" Rose asked, tears falling down her face; she was pretty sure the Doctor would have been able to hear her through the walls now, but she didn't care. "You've been running him raged for days on end…why can't…he…he needed a break. You don't see him…you don't know…"

Rose was stopped by a soft pull on the side of her dress. "Can we see Daddy, now?" Jack asked. He reached up and tugged on Rose's hand towards the room that he knew his father must be in. Biting her tongue from saying something else to Pete, Rose nodded and knelt down to her children's level a bit awkwardly.

"I'm gonna see Daddy first okay, and make sure he's…erm…awake, okay?" Rose asked. "You two wait outside with Gran and Granddad, okay?"

Ava and Jack hesitated, but they nodded and let the Rose go in and be with their father.

***

The Eleventh Doctor was whizzing about in his newly formed TARDIS library. He was picking up books left, right and center and still not getting the answers he was looking for. He had read medical papers, and psychology texts; he had even broken down and read the complete history of the banana, because he was so desperate for a link between himself and human Doctor's pain.

Falling onto the battered love seat the TARDIS had saved from her previous form; the Doctor rubbed his hand across his eyes and let it come to  
>rest against his chin.<p>

The TARDIS hummer her disappointment.

"Well what d'you want me to do?" the Doctor asked. "I've read all the texts that could lead to an answer but they don't tell me anything."

The TARDIS flashed an image of the human Doctor's two children.

"You don't think I would like to save him for them–for Rose?" the Doctor asked. "Even I have limitations you know."

Making a deep rumbling noise, a text book on the physiology of Time Lord children appeared in the Doctor's lap. He looked at the sea-green flames that had suddenly appeared in the fireplace before opening the book.

He flipped through rapidly until he found what he wanted, hitting himself in the face with the ball of his had the Doctor swore and read the passage more carefully. A wild grin spread across his lips as he looked at the green flames and smiled.

"Geronimo."

***

The Doctor was sitting up dazed in the middle of the white hospital bed. Oxygen tubes were running under his nose and several IV bags were connected to his left arm. The needles were taped down with plastic tape that seemed to pull at his skin in awkward ways. His head was lolling slightly to one side, but a grin spread on his face as Rose appeared.

She took his hand and sat in a chair next to his bed.

"Rose," the Doctor muttered.

"Hey, sweetheart," Rose whispered to him.

The Doctor smiled at her words. "Sweet-heart that's new," the Doctor muttered. "It's been such a long time."

Rose frowned. "I saw you just this afternoon, Doctor."

"No, you didn't," the Doctor said frowning, before gripping at his chest. "I'm sorry for getting shot by that Dalek."

Suddenly it all donned on Rose. "Doctor, how many hearts do you have?"

The Doctor squinted at Rose as if she were mad. "Two, Rose, you know that. Of course at the moment, I can't get the other to work; you might need to hit me on the chest."

The hope that her husband was alright shattered in Rose's chest along with her heart.

"Doctor?" Rose whispered, taking his hand and jumping back when he pulled sharply away.

"No, stand back, Rose," the Doctor shouted and he started to convulse on the bed.

"Doctor," Rose persisted, as he thrashing movements broke down into a shudder. She leaned against his ear and whispered the one word that could bring him back. His name and her name, joined by his surname.

Immediately, the shaking stopped, the Doctor looked up at Rose with the same look he always gave her when he came into a rough shake. Rose laced her hand back with his letting his eyes slowly fall down to Rose, assessing everything. He was trying desperately to keep a hold on reality, but Rose could tell her was slipping.

"Doctor, listen to me, you need to tell me what's wrong, okay?"

The Doctor gave her a struggled nod and complied.

"It's a neural implosion."

"Like Christmas Day?" Rose asked and the Doctor nodded.

"But, this time tea won't fix. Time Lords have this thing, where we're  
>connected to our parents on a link, it's always there, we don't even notice. But if that link breaks the child dies, unless it can be replaced by another Time Lord, that's what we did back home, trouble is: I'm the last. The Time Lord Doctor back on our universe regenerated, he broke the link accidentally, not his fault. He was so, so angry and broken, Rose. Now, he's just gone, my mind keeps searching but he's not there."<p>

Rose nodded and took his hand tighter in hers. Her raised it to her lips and gently brushed her lips across it.

"Do you just not recognize him?" Rose asked, but the Doctor shook his head.

"Our relationship is strange, not like any other in Time Lord history," the Doctor explained, sliding a bit further down the bed and letting his head fall a bit. "I would know him, but he's a universe away, he's the last Time Lord, but there are so many other telepathic beings that my mind…and now my body can't cope."

Rose watched helplessly, as the man she loved lost faith in himself. She couldn't believe it. The Doctor had risen past so much that humans have to put up with, illness, injury, family, and love. He jumped in after a moment's hesitation and has been swimming ever since she had kissed him on that beach. How could she have let this happen to him?"

"Rose," the Doctor asked, looked up, and caught her attention. "Can you take me home?"

Rose shook her head, pushing his shoulder down lightly to the bed.

"Please, I don't want to…" the Doctor trailed off, staring at his feet. He didn't want to finish the sentence, but Rose already knew where this was going. She ran her fingers through his hair and eased his nerves.

"Tell you what," Rose told him softly, keeping his face between her hands. "You hang in there for a bit longer to talk to the kids, and I'll talk to Dad about getting you home."

The Doctor nodded letting his eyes drift to the door. He imagined he could see them standing out in the hallway, worrying or maybe they were celebrating, the Doctor mused.

"What have you told them?" He asked his wife.

"Only that you're sick, mainly, that they need to be clam around you, and that you'll be better soon," Rose informed him.

"And, how are you doing?" the Doctor asked, letting his drift to her stomach before jerking them back up to her face.

"'M fine," Rose assured him, before letting out a choking laugh. "This little one seems to really want you home though, won't settle down."

Silence drifted between them for a few minutes before Rose got to her feet and squeezed her husband's hand before walking out the door and gathering Jack and Ava into the front of her. Rose pondered briefly if she should prepare them for what they were going to see, but she decided against it. She didn't want to over worry them before they even saw their father.

Ava was the first to reach the Doctor, who had made an effort to sit up straighter in the bed. He patted the side of the bed next to him and his daughter crawled up beside him, setting her face rest on his chest and letting his left arm tighten around her back. He murmured to her in simple Gallifrean, and she answered fluently. Rose pieced enough of it together to realize they were speaking their minds and feelings with words that English couldn't describe. The Doctor used the pad of his thumb to wipe away one of the tears that had escaped his daughter's eyes and kissed the top of her head lovingly.

Jack, on the other hand, hung close the Rose, holding onto his mother's hand. Rose could feel him shaking with nervous energy, as she rubbed his back soothingly.

"It's okay, Jack," Rose assured him. "Go see your dad."

"Uhuh," Jack said, shaking his head and back further away.

Rose knew better than to force him, so instead she motioned to the door, to let the Doctor know that she was going to see if she could get him home. The Doctor nodded, while holding onto their daughter and watched as Jack followed his mother out the door. The feeling of loss deepened in the Doctor's mind as now he hadn't just lost a connection with the Time Lord, but his own son. Ava wasn't speaking, just crying into his shoulder while he held onto her. He might as well have been a lump rather than a father.

"Daddy," Ava said suddenly, drawing him from his thought.

"Hmm?" the Doctor asked softly.

"I want you to have this," Ava said, pushing her journal into his hands and hugging him tightly.

The Doctor frowned, recognizing the dark blue color of the book. He tired to press it back into her hands, but she refused. Why was she giving it to him now? He had gone ages without her even letting him peak.

"It's ready now," Ava told him. "I've been making it for you. I finished especially quickly for you to have today. It's no fun sitting in bed with nothing to read."

Nodding his head, the Doctor ran his finger down the cover and read the title aloud. "'Stories to dream by,' interesting title," the Doctor muttered.

Ava nodded, "You're the one who invented it." Ava let out a giggle and opened the front cover for him. "You told me that when it was just me you and Mummy," Ava told him and pointed to the man she drew on the front page. "That's you, Daddy," Ava said pointing to the man dressed in a blue pinstriped  
>suit. "You never wear it anymore, but I really liked it."<p>

Chuckling, the Doctor nodded, his favorite suit hadn't fared well after Jack was born.

"That's the T-A-R-D-I-S, TARDIS, you told me about her." His daughter looked up at him and ran her hand down the blue box she had drawn. "I would have liked to have known her."

"She would have liked to have known you, my Ava."

"Really?" Ava asked, getting excited.

"Really," the Doctor assured her. He drew her into a hug and held her like that until Rose walked in followed by a very frustrated looking Pete and Jackie holding Jack against her.

"Doctor," Rose said, her voice was waffling between jovial and unsure. "You're coming home."

Grinning, the Doctor moved to sit up, but Pete stepped in.

"As head of Torchwood, it is my duty to make sure you are transported safely to your residence," Pete said, before kneeling down and looking at the Doctor's eyes. "As your father-in-law, it's my choice to do that driving myself." 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Underneath the console of the TARDIS, the Time Lord Doctor hung from a sling, as he connected and disconnected pieces of wires. The ship protested with showers of sparks at first, but she ceased quickly; when, she picked up on her human half's pain. She tried desperately to reach him and comfort him, but even her strength was not strong enough. Why did pain travel so much farther than love?

"Hey," the Doctor chided gently. "I can't have you spending your energy on me."

Shaking beneath him, the TARDIS made her thief realized her distress.

"I know," the Doctor murmured, as he picked up a spanner and began tweaking bolts and connecting his new dimension guide. "I'm trying, but I need you to save your energy so we can reach them, understand? This device should help store tons of energy from our universe when we get there. It's gonna help you steer as well."

Warmth circled the Doctor's mind, and he paused in his working briefly to stroke a power cell that glowed bright green from his touch. "That's my girl." The Doctor murmured soothingly as he finished on the bolts and made a few last welds. When he was done; he began to ascend in his sling to the main console room and out to the floor.

He began to read through the Gallifrean numbers flashing in front of his eyes quickly but surely; there was not room for an error this time. He took several minutes of running and rerunning tests on the computer before he finally felt confident enough to begin plugging in the coordinates.

"You ready?"

The TARDIS didn't even bother answering; she just lit up a light next to the final lever and pushed any excess energy into the compartment of the dimension guide.

***

Rose and the human Doctor's house was swarming with activity. Between the kids, Jake, Pete and the infamous Jackie Tyler, the Doctor was beginning to wonder if he was better off in the medical wind at Torchwood, at least they had visiting hours.

He had settled down on the couch, not wanting to go upstairs to the bedroom and away from where Rose and the kids would have been. His fever hadn't broken yet, and he felt like his lungs were ready to catch on fire with his head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try to alleviate the sensation, but it stubbornly got worse. He heard Rose open the door and usher everyone outside, telling them that she would keep them posted on how he was coming along.

With the click of the door, Rose padded over to the couch and sat next to his feet, gently nudging him in the calf. The Doctor opened his eyes in response, giving her a half-smile and moving to sit up.

Rose stopped him with gentle pressure on his stomach, as he let himself he pushed back onto the couch.

Ava and Jack watched their parents quietly before slipping off into the kitchen.

The siblings say down at the kitchen table and each of them grabbed a banana from the bowl in the center. Ava chewed hers quietly, while Jack swallowed half of his at once.

"Ava?" Jack asked through a mouthful of banana.

Ava looked up at him thoughtfully, while twirling one of her brown braid around her finger.

"Where's Daddy?" Jack spoke with a lowered voice, and leaning close to Ava as if he was telling him a secret.

"He's in the sitting room, Stupid," Ava chastised. _How could boys be so ignorant sometimes?_

"No, he's not," Jack insisted. "Daddies don't get sick like that."

"Do to," Ava retorted.

"Do not."

"Yes, they do." Ava gave him glare that all Tyler women seemed to acquire. Jack shrunk away slightly and Ava sighed. "Didn't you hear what Mummy told you?"

"Yeah, but…" Jack trailed off and Ava watched as a tear trailed down Jack's face.

"Jack," Ava sighed, and slid from her chair and left half of the banana on the table. She looped her arms around his shoulder and stared at him. "Daddy needs both of to not get sad."

"He's not."

"Jack," Ava cut him off. "You know he is."

Nodding and rubbing his nose with his sleeve, Jack dried his tears and stayed quiet.

"Hey," a voice floated over to them. The children looked up and caught their mother's eye, while Jack shoved the rest of his banana in his mouth and Ava smiled a reply.

"What are you guys doing in here?" Rose asked, sitting heavily in one of the kitchen chairs and resting her hand on her protruding abdomen.

Rose didn't ask directly, but Ava knew that she was referring to why Jack had been crying when she walked in.

"Eating," Jack mumbled through another mouthful of banana, but his heavy blushing told Rose he was lying, but she decided not to press it. Instead, Rose chucked and motioned her son to come over to her, so she could wipe some smeared banana off of his face.

"What do you guys think about ordering some pizza for dinner?" Rose asked. Jack nodded, but Ava was already walking out of the room. Rose heard her feet descending the stairs and the soft click of her bedroom door close. Rose tried to hide that she'd been affected by it, so instead she ran her hand down Jack's face, over the now dry tears and kissed his forehead.

"Daddy's still Daddy," Jack told Rose seriously. "Even if he's sick."

Rose couldn't help but chuckle at that, as Jack started to eat Ava's abandoned banana. "That he is, Jack," Rose told him, as she ran a hand fondly over his hair again and let a smile spread across her face. "And, he always will be."

"Ava said we can't be sad in front of Daddy," Jack told her; while, he drug his foot across the floor guiltily. "I'm sorry."

Smiling softly, Rose pulled him closer to her and hugged him tightly. "That's fine, Jack. But, you did hurt your Daddy's feelings." Rose felt Jack tense against her, so she softened her voice further. "Tell you what, when Daddy wakes up, why don't you talk to him, just the two of you. I think it'd be good for both of you."

Jack nodded eagerly and slid from his mother's grip, as he walked out of the kitchen, followed closely by Rose. She glanced at the stairwell and half expected Ava to come bounding down them, curly brown hair set free from their braids and showing off a smile, but she didn't. Ava needed some time alone to think, Rose decided.

"Daddy's sleeping," Jack whispered loudly.

Rose sat down next to her husband's feet and began to softly run her fingers over his knee. The need to touch him was almost unbearable. She felt like that was the only thing that hadn't been deprived of. Gone, was his energy and love of life; gone was his face broken into a boyish grin, and Gone, was the husband she'd been married to for nine years. And now, even touching him seemed hollow and unfulfilled, but he would come through; Rose just knew it.

"No he's not." The Doctor's voice grated with strain, as he turned his head to face Jack. "Hello, Buddy."

Jack beamed at his father, and caught him in an awkward hug. "Daddy, I'm sorry."

"Aww, that's okay," the Doctor cooed against his son's worries. "I woulda done the same thing when I was your age."

The grip of the three year old didn't leave the Doctor when the boy asked. "Really?"

"Yes, really," the Doctor assured him with a chuckle. "Now, hush, that's behind us, deal?" Feeling Jack nod against him, the Doctor pressed on. "Good, now bring down your homework and let me look, alright?"

Jack hesitated before scurrying up the steps and leaving Rose and the Doctor alone.

"How are you feeling?" Rose asked the Doctor from where she was sitting, contently tracing circles into the Doctor's knee cap. "Any better?"

The Doctor flirted briefly with the idea of lying to Rose, telling her that he was fine. But, he felt the coolness of his wedding band against his finger, and he knew it wasn't an option. He let his right hand find her hand and let his left hand rest softly on her stomach where he knew their child rested. He offered her a squeeze that she returned wholeheartedly, knowing before he spoke what he was going to say.

"No, but you can't worry about that, Rose," the Doctor assured her, as he sat up. Rose allowed him to catch her in an embrace. He was shaking from exhaustion, but his arms still felt strong as they wrapped around her protectively. She was safe. She was always safe when she was with him. "I know this is gonna be tough, but you know me. Suborn, remember? I'm not going anywhere."

Rose nodded and circled her arms around his. "You better not, 'cause if you do, you're in for a Tyler slap."

The Doctor laughed lightly. "Can I expect one from my sweet Ava as well?"

"You bet," Rose told him, only tightening her grip. "Jack needs someone to dilute the female population in the house."

The Doctor didn't reply for a long time, just focused on his breathing as he felt Rose loosen her grip finally, while he lay back down. Rose curled up next to him. Her head rested comfortably against him, while she guided his hand back down to her side and laid it next to her stomach.

***

Jack gripped his notebook close to his chest from the top of the steps. He watched as his parents both drifted into an exhausted sleep. So, he trudged back into his room and laid his note book back down on the desk across from his bed. He sat up on his bed and toed off his socks as he stared at the ceiling.

Comets and planets glowed slightly in the dim light. He remembered the day that the Doctor, Ava and himself had spent the day trying to decide what to do with the place. When they finally showed Rose, she chuckled and muttered something about them not being able to do anything else with it. Ava had asked their Dad if he had put all the stars in the right place, because she couldn't match it up with her pocket astronomy guide.

The image of his father's face filled his mind, when Jack thought back. "Of course, I did!" the Doctor's indignant reply had been, as he picked his daughter up playfully and tossed slightly into the air. Jack tried to remember what he had called the grouping of stars.

"Kastebros."

Jack looked up and saw his sister staring at him from her bed. Her head was propped up on her elbow.

"What?" Jack asked bewildered.

"The constellation's name is Kastebros," Ava clarified, as she rubbed her eyes in concentration and pulled herself into a sitting position. "That's where Daddy's from."

Silence fell over the two of them, as Ava settled back down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, memorizing the stars as if she could chase them right now. He heart fluttered at the thought, to run forever, to feel the wind in her face, to explore, to see everything.

"How did you know what I was thinking of?" Jack asked, breaking the silence.

Ava shrugged, not taking her eyes off the ceiling. "Just felt like that's what you were thinking 'bout I guess."

"Oh."

"Jack?"

"Hmm?"

"Did Mummy say Daddy was sick from headaches?" Ava asked.

Jack nodded, not really paying attention. "She said they make him dizzy."

"Mmm," Ava muttered.

"How come?" Jack asked.

"No reason."

Jack didn't question further as he slid of his bed when he heard the door-bell ring.

The Doctor was running around the TARDIS in a flurry of tweed. Sparks flew from every direction as he circled around his ship. He wasn't used to this new configuration yet, but the old girl was doing her best to make sure he learned in a hurry.

Hearts pounding wildly in his chest, the Doctor reached for his toffee mallet, but found it to be missing. Quickly, he improvised with a well placed fist.

Exclaiming, the Doctor felt the TARDIS begin to shudder violently as the two of them entered the void.

"Come on, 'ol girl," the Doctor muttered, as he reached across and twisted a couple knobs at a seemingly random sequence. "Come on, for him."

The Doctor would have gotten down on his knees to beg his ship if he wasn't so busy trying to fly her. The lights dimmed and the Doctor felt the shuddering stop as the rest of the TARDIS's essence was stored inside the holder of the dimension guide.

"There we go, old girl," the Doctor soothed briefly, while he spared on minute to check that his precious ship was safe and protected. "Just wait here and I'll be home soon. We might get you to meet Rose and the Doctor's family."

The TARDIS didn't bother replying this time; she just waited inside her box that was too small on the inside.

"Be home soon, with friends," the Doctor promised.

***  
>By the time the siblings trampled down the steps, their mother was<br>already rising from the couch and waddling drowsily over to the door. The Doctor stirred but didn't wake, while Rose paid the man at the door and placed the cardboard box down on the coffee table. The siblings waited a moment, staring at their father, waiting.

"You guys go ahead," Rose told them, while she roused the Doctor with a gentle shake of his shoulder. "Doctor, Sweetheart, wake up."

He groaned and gave Rose a wry smile. She brushed a kiss against his cheek and cupped her hand against it. Her hand was covered with his; while, he softly moved his fingers in a circular pattern over hers.

"Hungry?" Rose asked him, but he shook his head and swallowed thickly. "Okay, later then, okay?"

Nodding his head, the Doctor closed his eyes and drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

Ava curled up next to where Rose sat against the couch with her legs outstretched. Ava rested her head against her mother and closed her eyes. Rose rubbed her daughter's back in a soothing motion. Jack was quick to join, wiping some pizza off the side of his mouth and leaning on Rose's other side.

***

Rose glanced at the clock. It was five minutes until the kid's bed time,  
>and she was hoping to still send them to school tomorrow. It was better to keep their minds off of everything and maybe help them realize that some things were still normal.<p>

"Come on, you guys," Rose said getting to her feet motioning towards the stairs. "Upstairs, brush your teeth, make sure your backpacks are ready for tomorrow and into bed, alright."

"Okay, Mummy," Ava replied, as she went up the steps, but Jack hung behind.

"Are you gonna tell us a story instead of Daddy?" Jack asked.

"If you want me to, yeah," Rose replied, as she kissed her son's forehead fondly and gave him a hug. Jack returned the hug contentedly before running up the steps.

Rose watched him go, as she turned back to the Doctor. She pulled a thick blanket over his shoulders and gently brushed the fringe of his hair away from his face.

"Be right back, my Doctor," Rose promised as she stood up straighter and began to walk up the stairs.

***

The sound of covers came from inside Jack and Ava's room as Rose stepped inside and walked past Jacks bed to sit on Ava's to turn on a lamp. Rose pressed a kiss into her forehead as she drifted immediately into sleep. Rose would have worried on any other day, but considering everything they were going through lately; Ava had a right to be tired.

"Story, Mummy?" Jack murmured sleepily, as he stared at Rose. She smiled and slid off his glasses and placed them on the night stand. She pulled the covers over him motherly, as she pulled up the wooden chair that was usually reserved for the Doctor to captivate the kids before bedtime.

"Certainly, Jack," Rose said with a smile. "Has Daddy ever told you about the day we first met?"

Jack nodded.

"What about our first date in this universe?" Rose tried again.

"Nope," Jack said, shaking his head. "He said it was too embarrassing."

Rose let out another soft laugh and began to engross Jack in the story of how the Doctor had planned an elaborate dinner for their first date. She recalled how the Doctor showed up in her office at Torchwood on a day she was working late. He was wearing a new suit and his glasses were practically falling off his nose as he bounced around excitedly.

"He was so…giddy," Rose explained. "He all but dragged me from my desk and made me sprint all the way to the restaurant behind him… Anyway, the night started out nice, we ate and danced, and laughed."

"And then the aliens came?" Jack asked. "What were they like?"

"They were small and green, pretty much your stereotypical alien–little green men from Mars–although, your Dad was pretty adamant that they weren't from Mars, some planet in the Scarlet System called Traxicoria. So, we ended up getting called back to Torchwood and solved the problem."

Jack burrowed deeper into his covers and stifled a yawn. "What's so embarrassing about that?"

"Your Dad was captured by them and held hostage–keeping in mind they were about a foot tall with rubber spears. They had something in it for him…" Rose trailed off as she noticed Jack's eyes drifting closed. She switched off the lights and walked out the door.

Rose was half way down the steps when she heard the door-bell ring. At first, Rose thought she was imagining things; it was past nine o'clock at night. She supposed it could have been Jackie or Pete, but surely even her mother would have called if she was popping over. Normally, she would have asked the Doctor to go and check it out, but considering the position he was in right now she thought better of it.

Instead, Rose picked up Jack's baseball bat from where it leaned next to the door. She moved her hand slowly towards the door knob when the door bell rang again. She turned the doorbell and tried to calm her nerves as she pushed her door open and raised the bat as she got ready to swing.

"Hello!" a strange man said brightly, as he stared at her. His green eyes were filled with humor, but they yielded to something at told Rose that he was far more intelligent and wise than he looked. His hair flopped over those eyes. Rose would have considered the look modern, if it wasn't for his tweed jacket and suspenders. It was when she caught a sight of what was around his neck that she knew that she was hallucinating–a bow tie?

The man gave her a strange look, as he gently pried the bat from her hands and setting it down on the ground. "Rose Tyler, calm down, it's only me. Seriously, after all we've been through, after all we've seen?"

"I don't…I don't even" Rose stuttered finding her voice. "I've never met you before in my life, but look my husband's here and if you try anything…"

"Ah, but that's the problem," the man replied, stepping through the threshold and in front of the Doctor's prone form on the couch. He was whimpering in pain while he slept, but didn't show any signs of waking.

"Leave him alone," Rose whispered harshly at him, and pulled the man away from her husband. She placed herself between the man and her husband.

"Rose, it's me, the Doctor." The man took Rose's hands in his and pressed them against his chest. "I'm here to help."

Rose felt weight beginning to pile down on her shoulders as she sunk down to an armchair next to the couch. The Doctor couldn't be here; he said it was impossible. The Time Lord Doctor flipped the main lights on and knelt down next to Rose. He looked at her deeply and tried to catch her gaze, but Rose refused to look at him. Instead her line of sight was focused on the man who she'd spent over nine years of her life with. Rage began to bubble inside of her and she knew what she had to do.

The Time Lord Doctor exclaimed in pain, as he stumbled backward. He looked around him trying to regain his focus, but doing nothing for his dignity. A strangled chuckle rose from the couch and the Time Lord Doctor glanced in the direction of his human clone.

"Wha-What was that for?" the Time Lord mumbled cupping his cheek. "I'm not even a day old and my face has been clobbered who knows how many times. I already met this one girl in Leadworth who wacked me and handcuffed me, but still, Rose Tyler your mother has rubbed off on you. Help us all if your offspring turns out to be female; because, that could be dangerous."

"Too late," the human Doctor muttered from the couch, as he opened his eyes half-ways and stared around him. "Ava's certainly got spunk. Poor Jack." The Doctor looked over to his wife and grinned. "Rose, why don't you go to bed, sweetheart? I'll be fine. If you can't trust me with me, who can you trust?"

Rose stared at the Time Lord with little trust, but she nodded her head and excused herself from the room.

The Time Lord Doctor knelt down next to his human clone, and placed his hand on the side of his face. "Hello, old friend."

The human Doctor bit off a harsh chuckle. "Old friend isn't what I would call our relationship, Doctor."

"John Smith," the Time Lord Doctor amended. "You're the Doctor on this universe."

"Hardly," the Doctor slurred, as he clutched at his chest and started shaking against John Smith's grip. "The…K-kids are… in danger too." The Doctor shut his eyes and closed them tighter against the pain. "You know…what to do."

"No," John said determinedly. "Not yet. We're gonna pull you through it first, okay?"

"Promise me," the Doctor demanded. He clenched his teeth against the pain that was running rampant through his body.

John Smith considered for a minute before nodding. "I promise, but only if you promise to hold on for them. Your littlest one should at least be held once by his or her true father."

"If we can't fix me, you will be their true father," the Doctor retorted, as he finally succumbed to the strain on his body and slumped back on the couch.

"Would you like me to help you get into bed, upstairs?" John Smith asked, ignoring his defeat, and placing his hand on his shoulder. "Might be a bit easier on your back?"

Slowly, the Doctor nodded and let himself be guided up from the couch. The blood rushing to his head made black spots enter his peripheral vision. Knees began to buckle underneath him and bile threatened to rise up from his stomach. An iron filled tang entered his mouth as the black spots filled yet more of his vision. The last thing that filled his mind was Ava's voice crying out and Rose's trying to calm her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rose walked down the hallway, rubbing her eyes. Maybe the Doctor was right. She really did need to rest; it was better off for everyone. She cracked Ava and Jack's door open a bit more to see Jack resting peacefully, but Ava was tossing and turning. She whimpered and reached out she squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"Ava," Rose whispered softly from the door way. Her daughter didn't answer, just tossed a bit more, while Rose approached the bed.

"Ava," Rose tried again, and placed her hand on Ava's face. "Wake up sweetheart; it's just a bad dream."

Slowly, Ava came through and stared up at her mother. She squinted trying to get the image of her mother to merge into one. What was she doing here? It must have been ten o'clock at night.

"What're you doing?" Ava muttered, rubbing her eyes and finding relief as her vision cleared.

Rose shrugged. "Just checking in."

Ava nodded and looked over Rose's shoulder as if she expected something to be standing there.

"Just a dream," Ava muttered, while she grinned at her mother winningly. "No, big deal."

Rose raised an eye brow and softly tucked Ava's hair behind her ear. "A nightmare?"

Ava nodded, but didn't show any signs of explaining further. Inwardly, Rose sighed. Ava would have told the Doctor and any fears would have been assuaged immediately. They were closer than Rose thought possible. Rose and her mother weren't even that close to each other.

"Tell me about it?" Rose asked, sitting closer and letting her daughter curl up against her side.

"Daddy leaves," Ava whispered, letting some tears fall over her cheeks before wiping them away hastily. "He promised he wouldn't."

Rose gave her daughter a tight squeeze. She tried to offer some comfort, but she couldn't find any words to describe how much her father never wanted to leave any of them ever. How much he would rather die than abandon it all. How much he would rather face all the demons in the universes one-hundred times over than leave them forever.

"He's not going to. He would never _ever_ even think about leaving if he had a choice." Rose promised her, while she pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. "Now get some sleep, alright?"

Ava nodded, but paused. "Will you… stay for a while?" Ava asked unsurely. Rose's eyes softened and she nodded; while, she lay down next to Ava and wrapped her arms around her. Ava snuggled closely against her mother–quite the accomplishment when Rose was eight months along.

"There now," Rose murmured, letting her eyes fall shut and her voice calm Ava. "Better?"

"Mhm," Ava affirmed. "I love you, Mummy."

"I love you too," Rose cooed, as she felt Ava's muscles relax.

On the other side of the room, Jack's gentle murmuring filled her mind. She picked out the words, TARDIS, Slitheen, and vinegar. Rose had chastised the Doctor about the stories not being fit for the kids, that they were too terrifying for him. But in truth, Rose wouldn't have stopped him if she could. They were as much a part of him as they were a part of her. Their kids wouldn't have been theirs if the stories were left untold.

And, they were brilliant kids. Jack's eager need to learn and discover new things was a direct spinoff from his father, but his clear drive for what he wanted was all Rose. He could find a way to swindle what he wanted no matter what. If he set his mind to it he was going all the way. Ava was more soft-spoken within her family, telling them everything, but outside she was reserved and awkward. It was always a wonder to both the Doctor and Rose why she was so quiet outside the walls and safety of their home, when they were both so virulent in public. But, they accepted this, and she made up for it in intelligence. There was seldom a time when she wasn't off studying something, whether it was in a book or the world.

Finally, Rose allowed herself to drift into a peaceful sleep.

***

John had gotten the Doctor into the room he had indicated at his bedroom with Rose. He paused for a moment to take it all in. It was simple; the carpet was a creamy beige color, with a wooden dresser and a queen sized bed. It was so domestic–so perfect for them. Pictures were everywhere in the relatively small room. Most were of the kids or the family together, but one caught John's attention in particular.

Rose was wearing a white dress, and the Doctor was wearing a suit. Everything seemed so perfect at first glance, but then there were those little things that made them seem so right, like the couple he knew. The Doctor was wearing jet black converse sneakers with Rose in off white ones. His hair was askew and sticking out in every angle, as if he had just gotten out of bed, but John knew from experience that he must have spent hours making it look just right. Their rings on their fingers were traditional gold, but John thought he could pick out just a hint of red engraving.

"I'd like to lie down if that's fine with you," a weak voice drew John from his thoughts.

The Doctor was leaning heavily on John. His eyes were desperately trying to stay open, while a single stream of blood began to dry from his lip to his chin. A pitiful attempt at a smile stretched his lips into a thin line. He was shaking with exertion.

"Right, sorry," John apologized, as he guided the Doctor over to his bed and let him lie over the covers. He tugged off the Doctor's trainers and set them under the bed. "It's just it's so… domestic. It's amazing. Although, if you had a couple bunk beds… or better yet a hammock… well two hammocks. The two of you in one hammock might be a bit dangerous."

The Doctor smirked.

"What?" John asked as if he were injured.

"Your bowtie," the Doctor murmured.

"Bowties are cool," John defended, letting his hand go his latest fashion accessory.

The Doctor chuckled and reached his hand up to his mouth. He looked at the blood sticking to his fingers and swallowed thickly. This was moving faster than he expected.

"It's not as bad as it looks," John assured the Doctor. He covered the back of the Doctor's hand with his and guided it back down to the covers. With his other hand, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his face. "We've both been through worse than a bit of blood."

"I know," the Doctor muttered, but he didn't sound so convinced.

"We'll worry about that tomorrow, but for now. Dr. Smith orders rest," John gave the Doctor a cheeky grin. "Lots coming up, starting with finding a way to get you better, and it might just be me, but I find it helps if my patients were conscious when I examined them."

"Kids first," the Doctor muttered.

"They've got time, you don't," John said bluntly. He got to his feet and let the Doctor gently drift off. "Now rest."

Any argument died before it got past the Doctor's throat, as he finally drifted off.

***

In the hallway, John Smith took the quiet time to explore the house. He  
>ran his hand through his new hair and walked over to the window at the end of the hall. It looked over the backyard where a swing set and sandbox were unoccupied. A rocking chair was positioned ideally for anyone to watch from inside. John imagined that Rose or the Doctor had spent time rocking Jack while their other half played outside with Ava. He even dared to wager that Rose sat where he was now settling himself and watched her husband play with their two children.<p>

"Hey." Rose's voice wafted over to him. "How is he?"

"Well, he was well enough to make fun of my bow tie," John muttered,  
>getting to his feet and focusing his attention on her. She was even more gorgeous than he remembered. Her hair was cut shorter–still blonde thankfully–but what was left of it was tied in a practical knot. Her face was more angled than he remembered and there was something about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on. She'd grown up, started a family, found love, but that wasn't it…she was satisfied. John had never seen that look on her face before, happiness, yes, enthrallment, yes, but never satisfaction. There wasn't any room for him anymore. Maybe that's why he took to Amy so kindly; she was someone who grew up and still thought of him as her imaginary friend.<p>

"It is kind of silly," Rose joked, letting her eyes drop onto the new man's face. "Doc-"

John held up a hand. "John Smith."

"John, I need you to tell me the truth," Rose pleaded with him. The Doctor was her constant now; she wasn't going to wake up some day and find him with a new face. She needed him.

"Why don't I make us some tea, and I'll explain everything," John asked softly. He placed a friendly arm around her shoulders and guided her through the hallway and down the stairs.

Rose bit out a laugh. "That'll be the day. I remember back when I was travelling with you; I was the one who could work the kettle without the threat of the universe imploding."

"Oi, I've had some time on my own, Rose Tyler," John's words were joking, but Rose saw a sad glint in his eyes. She had two Time Lords to make better this time.

***

Steam carried a sweet aroma into Rose's nose while she cupped her hands around her mug. Her pink and purple nails–Ava's idea–seemed to blend in with the mug's colored spots. John stared down at his own mug.

"John, it's time you spoke up," Rose told him, while she took a long sip of her tea and placed her mug on the coffee table in the living room. She brought her legs up to her core and subconsciously let her hands rest protectively against her growing child.

"What's the Doctor already told you?"

"He said when you regenerated you broke the link and now he's suffering some sort of neural implosion," Rose murmured. She tried to make it so her words didn't sound

John nodded slowly. "I did break the link, normally, a Time Lord would have compensated, but even though his brain is Time Lord his body couldn't keep up."

"What does that mean," Rose asked. She felt like a scared child, wondering when the horror movie she was too young for was going to end.

"Rose, when a Time Lord regenerates the shape of their link changes. Imagine that you're your husband. You have a certain shaped receiver. If you were a Time Lord then the shape would change for me, but you're half human, so you can't. He's still a child in many ways, Rose."

Rose shook her head. "You're wrong."

John got down from his chair and knelt in front of Rose. "Rose, I'm going to do everything I can to save him, but there's something else you need to know."

Trying to get to her feet, Rose pushed off from the couch, but John held her down. "Rose Tyler you need to listen to me, for once, just listen. Your kids, they're at risk too. Not as much as your husband; because none of them are eight yet–that's when they Time Lord children reach psychic maturity. They're still malleable. I could imprint myself on them like a father and everything would be fine for them."

Rose shook her head furiously. "You can't do that. You're not their father. The Doctor is their father. He raised them… he… he… he's spent eleven years with me, nine of them married and five of those raising out children. What have you done? You left us here… you broke the link… and you're killing him."

Rose fell into silent sobs as she covered her face with her hands. John reached forward and circled his arms around her. He ran his hand up and down her back while she cried. She was stiff in his grip, but she didn't pull back.

"Rose, I just need you to know all possibilities," John murmured to her. "I told you, I'm going to do everything I can, alright?"

Nodding, Rose squeezed the Time Lord closer to her and sighed. "No matter what, my children will always know that my husband is their father. Ava, Jack and this little one." Rose placed her hand on her protruding abdomen to demonstrate. "They'll always know."

"I promise," John murmured. "We'll start on the Doctor tomorrow. I'll take him to my TARDIS, and we can run some tests. I'd also like to check the kids just in case."

"Okay," Rose agreed, and finally John released her and allowed her to get to her feet. She wiped the tears from her eyes and rubbed her hand over her stomach. The baby wasn't taking very kindly to her emotions. "I'll show you to the guest room. I know you don't sleep much, but seeing as you just regenerated I'm sure you're exhausted. Knowing you, you probably saved the Earth."

"I did, yeah," John confirmed.

"Alright, then," Rose muttered. He hadn't changed that much then.

***

The Doctor opened his eyes when he heard the door to his room creak open slightly. He hadn't been sleeping–more resting–he wasn't sure if it was physically possible to sleep with the way he felt.

Rose's footfalls creaked as she tried to stay silent while the Doctor slept. Smiling, the Doctor listened contently for a minute as Rose went through her usual routine. Opening the dresser with a grinding noise before walking into the adjacent bathroom to change into her nightgown and brush her teeth.

Just as he expected, the water started running in the bathroom.

It was less than five minutes later that the bathroom door open. Rose slipped in next to the Doctor and chastely placed a kiss on the tip of his nose. She placed her hand on the side of his face and held it there while she slid onto her side.

"Good night," Rose murmured quietly, more to herself than anything.

"G'night," the Doctor replied, letting his eyes open and stare at his wife through the dim lighting.

"I thought you were a sleep," Rose muttered, while the Doctor draped an arm over her shoulder and slid a bit closer to her. "You need rest."

Chuckling, the Doctor moved his hands lower to his hands lower to Rose's stomach. "D'you really think I was gonna sleep while you were alone with a Time Lord?" We're irresistible, Rose."

"You're a Time Lord," Rose told him.

"Half Time Lord, Rose," the Doctor slurred. Rose could tell he was getting tired, so she pulled the covers slightly more over him. He was still trembling with a mixture of exhaustion and chills. "And, you can't resist me, so what would a whole Time Lord do to you?"

"Nothing," Rose answered immediately, leaning closely to her husband and brushing some sweat away from his forehead with her sleeve.

"Good," the Doctor muttered, while he turned the conversation. "How're you feeling?"

"M'fine," Rose assured. "_We're_ fine."

The Doctor didn't make a sound to say whether he agreed to or not, instead he lowered himself level with Rose's stomach. He murmured something in Gallifrean, and Rose held onto the back of his head. He stayed like that for a long time, not muttering a word in English, just Gallifrean. Rose couldn't pick out specific phrases, just pieces, always, father, child, hold, and that word the Doctor used when love just wasn't enough.

When the Doctor finished speaking, it was Rose who spoke up. "Everything's gonna work out, Doctor. John told me that tomorrow he's gonna take you to his TARDIS. He's gonna fix this."

"Yes, he is," the Doctor muttered. "He always does."

"Doctor…" Rose started, wanting to ask, but not knowing how. She wanted to know about the kids and the new Doctor. She wanted to yell at him that the Time Lord wasn't their father. That no one could equal his love for them. Plus, what about Ava's nightmare? Should she tell the Doctor about it?

"The kids will be fine," the Doctor promised, reading her mind and taking her hand.

"You're their father," Rose murmured into his chest, feeling his single heart thumping erratically under her cheek.

"Always," the Doctor swore, finally sounding like he would doze off. "But, if there's anyone I trust to take care of them if I can't…It's him.

"He's not you." Tears fell onto the Doctor's chest while she gripped him  
>harder.<p>

"Déjà vu, eh?" The Doctor tried to add levity.

"Yeah," Rose murmured, not wanting to think back on the day that the Time Lord had abandoned them both on the beach. They had both accepted it as a blessing in disguise, but there was still pain with the memories. "Sleep."

"I love you, Rose."

"And you, my strong Doctor," Rose murmured the words, bringing comfort to both her spouse and herself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Early the next morning, the Doctor found himself laying prone on one of the beds in the TARDIS medical bay. His eyes were closed as his–_John's_–TARDIS murmured her reassurance into his mind. It soothed him to finally feel another presence within his thoughts. Her strength was his for a moment's time, but he knew it couldn't last forever. He needed a Time Lord–specifically John. They had been joined in a way that was impossible and now they were ending in the only way impossible could.

John was muttering something about a banana being the same as some sort of astronomical development, while he leaned over a computer screen and read the results. Normally, the Doctor would have joined in with the conversation, but now he was struggling focusing on the poorly-dressed Time Lord's words.

Opening his eyes, the Doctor was surprised to see that it was just the two of them in the med-bay. Rose had been in there earlier when John had first made him strip to his boxers and lie back on the table. She must have gone to feed the kids in the TARDIS kitchen he decided. They were still asleep when John had said the TARDIS couldn't stay stable in the area they were in for much longer. It was then that John helped Rose pack a rucksack filled with some clothes and a few boxes that Rose kept full of memories, some from the kids and her husband, some from her days in the TARDIS, and some from her early days here without the man she loved.

It took some careful steering on John's part to get the TARDIS to land just outside the Tyler Estate so Rose could say goodbye.

With a smile, the Doctor thought back to his mother-in-law's reactions to the new, new, new Doctor.

_Jackie Tyler stepped out of her front doors at three in the morning. She was clad in a fluffy robe with a tired looking Pete Tyler in pajamas holding the shoulder of a sleepy looking nine year old. The Doctor couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt that went deeper than any physical pain that had been ripping through him the past few days._

_It wasn't fair that he was going to tear them apart. Everything Rose knew was here. Her mother, father, little brother, and their home resided in this universe now. He couldn't be worth all that could he? He couldn't even be close._

_And, just as he was about to drop lower into his lack of confidence, Rose slipped her hand into his. Her grip was tight and sure. There wasn't a hint of doubt in her actions as they softly on, while John explained what was going on to Jackie. Jackie's face got red and the Doctor clenched slighting as if to guard himself from a possible slap._

_However, the action never came. Instead, she pushed away from the Time Lord still explaining the science to Pete. He nodded thoughtfully while he murmured words too low for the Doctor's human ears to pick up and understand. The man had let Tony's hand go, so he could wander over and lean on the Doctor's leg. The Doctor and Tony had grown into great friends. They were almost inseparable from the day the Doctor decided that Tony's wagon could be a bit more sonic. Several stitches and a cast on the Doctor, as well as a lengthy trip to the hospital had spawned a unique brand of companionship._

_He was losing his big sister and still cuddled up to the man who was taking her away. The Doctor could barely stand the emotion of the nine year old, but somehow he managed to meet Jackie Tyler's eyes. They were filled with sadness; their blue depth misted over with tears. She stared at him over Rose's shoulder, while she clung to her daughter tightly._

_Words eluded the Doctor, but Jackie found them._

_"Don't apologize, Doctor," Jackie muttered, reaching out one of her hands, while she shifted her daughter into a one armed hug and placed a hand on the Doctor's forearm. "I knew a long time ago that you were honestly in love with my little girl. Those two terrors of grandchildren that you've given me are proof of that." A small laugh escaped the Jackie's lips and the Doctor tried meekly to join into the mirth. "Take care of each other like I know you will, and my latest grandbaby?" The Doctor nodded, letting his eyes brighten slightly. He pushed off of the railing and caught Jackie Tyler into a hug. He carefully controlled his breathing and shivers to cause as little worry to Jackie as possible._

_"Jackie Tyler," the Doctor said, something similar to awe in his voice. "You're brilliant." No wonder Rose was so amazing. "You are the most…" the Doctor paused wondering if he should continue on with his thoughts. "Wonderful, mother-in-law I could have hoped for. I hope you forgive me for thinking of you as a Mum."_

_That did it for Jackie, as she stepped back and batted the Doctor on the shoulder lightly. "You daft alien, there's nothing to forgive."_

_It was at that moment that John stepped in. Pete was sharing a final hug with the woman who he had accepted as a daughter. He stared at her intently. As if he was searching for something that he would never see. The Doctor guessed it was nineteen years of raising her. Pete had Tony, but the Doctor knew enough that raising a daughter was far different from a son–every child was different._

_Rose stepped back, smiled widely at Pete to cover her tears and sadness. She stepped back and joined the Doctor again, replacing her hand in his. John stepped away as well, all the words having been said already. _

The Doctor was drawn from his reminiscing as John pulled his attention back to the present.

"…and that is why fish fingers and custard should be considered a new  
>form of capital across the universe." John explained, setting down a file of translucent papers. "Doctor?"<p>

"Fascinating," the Doctor slurred, sitting up and reaching for his pants on the end of the exam bed. He pulled them on against the chills and did the same with his oxford. "What'd you find out?"

"Not much more," John said, not glancing up from his papers, while he scribbled nonsense onto a notepad.

"John," the Doctor started.

"The TARDIS isn't able to compensate, I'm not compatible and your kids are too young to help," John explained briskly, finally finding the Doctor face and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna figure it out. And, the kids still need to be tested. They might be fine, and even if they need a link; if we get them before they're eight they should be…"

John trailed off and sat heavily into a rolling chair.

"I'm sorry," John muttered, letting his head fall into his hands. It felt differently against his palms. "I should have known. If I had I wouldn't have abandoned you to…to…"

"Die?" the Doctor knew the answer, but he needed the challenge. He needed to know there was something he could beat.

"Yes," John admitted, letting his green eyes scan over the Doctor. He was poking at an IV line that John had forced him to submit to.

"How long?"

"I dunno," John admitted. "A few days, maybe weeks."

The Doctor nodded, letting John's sorrowful expression wash over him. He couldn't really believe that. Could he? He had asked, and he knew it was more than likely, but to get it put into a time frame–even one a vague–was a reality check.

"Don't tell, Rose," the Doctor said trying to sit up straight, but gave up when John pushed him back down. "Let me tell her, got it? We don't need to worry her anymore than she is. Lord knows she's stressed."

John nodded, while he got to his feet and switched on another device. "This should help take down your fever; it expands pours and allows natural cooling to take place at a faster rate. Will give you a terrible case of the chills though; just try to pull though it and you'll be fine."

"Molto-bene," the Doctor muttered staring up at the IV bag. "Is this–"

"–completely necessary? Yes, now shut up, stop arguing, and rest," John said sternly, while the Doctor hmph'ed and mutter something about getting nothing but rest.

"At least let me eat breakfast with my kids," the Doctor requested.

He wanted to be with his children more than anything. Jack and Ava were  
>a part of him; sometimes he was envious of the Time Lord who had two hearts to give love with, but then the Doctor remembered the Time Lords couldn't give any.<p>

***

Rose had tucked the children into the bed that the TARDIS had showed them that night. They seemed to sleep even deeper than they did at home. It must have been the soft lullabies the TARDIS hummed constantly. An outsider might have thought it was just the mechanics of the ancient ships, but Rose knew differently. She knew that the ship was alive–she'd seen that she was sentient–felt her existence running through her veins, and now her kids let the song resonate through their dreams.

The Doctor had slept with her across the hall in her old room. Rose had been surprised to find it just the way she had left it, especially since John had told him the TARDIS had been completely redesigned. A hint of melancholy assaulted her, as she curled up next to her husband.

It wasn't a surprise to her that her kids weren't the only ones to fall into a peaceful sleep. The Doctor's breathing had steadied from the moment he stepped aboard the ship. Even his head seemed to improve. Hope filled Rose as she thought back to last night; while she stepped into her children's room.

Ava was still tucked peacefully under the thick purple covers, while Jack was already running around the small space in a fresh t-shirt and one pant leg while he tried to hop into the other. Rose fought back a giggle while she caught him and led him back over to the bed. She helped him to slide into his jeans and turned his t-shirt so the green t-rex was facing the right direction. He blinked owlishly at her, as he slid on his glasses and grinned.

"The TARDIS is even better than Daddy said," Jack whispered, knowing better than to wake Ava–she was, to say the least, not a morning person.

"That she is," Rose agreed, while she picked a comb off the bedside table and began to gently undo the tangles Jack's hair had acquired through sleep. "Did you hear her song?"

Jack beamed widely and nodded eagerly. "She's pretty."

"Her song?" Rose asked, glancing over to Ava to see she was still sleeping.

"No," Jack said with a soft giggled. "The TARDIS, silly. She's very pretty. Daddy never said she was like us."

"She's not," Rose told him. "I mean she thinks and feels, but she's not exactly a person, Jack."

"S'not true," Jack said stubbornly. "I dreamed she was a person. She gave me lots of hugs."

"Alright then," Rose said, breathing out and finally understanding. "Sometimes that happens." Rose explained, as she drew Jack into her lap. "It means she likes you."

"Does she like Daddy?" Jack asked innocently.

Rose smiled a wide grin at Jack before hugging him closely. "More than anyone."

"Good, she said he needed lots of love," Jack explained, letting his body rest against Rose in contentment.

"And he gonna get," Rose all but swore. "He's got you, and Ava, and me, and Uncle John."

"Uncle John's gonna fix Daddy," Jack told her.

***

The TARDIS had set up a breakfast in the kitchen. Under normal circumstances, she would have made her wolf, her human half and her thief prepare their own food, but she felt the stress as much as everyone else on the ship–if not more. She was connected to her human half more than anyone else since her thief broke the link. She wasn't prepared to lose him. She had already lost the Doctor-Donna and been torn to shreds from that.

"Thanks, girl," Rose cooed to the ship as she took out five plates and set them out on the table, while Ava and Jack each climbed into a chair. "You're amazing, you know that, right?"

The TARDIS gave her a smug sound for the briefest of seconds before returning back to her usual song.

"Modesty doesn't come in age does it?" Rose asked, stroking one of the walls.

The TARDIS chuckled and projected an image of her Doctor into her mind.

"Well, you do have a point there," Rose joked. "Still rude and not ginger?"

Every part of the ship's demeanor projected the word _always_ to her, and somehow, the ship managed to pass on a secret.

"You cruel girl," Rose joked at the ship before taking a seat and dishing out food to Ava and Jack. "Eat up, guys."

Ava and Jack dug into their plates of eggs and pancakes, while Rose chewed distractedly on a piece of toast.

Ava twirled her eggs around in her syrup before setting down her fork and staring across at Jack while he ate his meal voraciously. He leaned so far over his plate that Ava wondered if his glasses might slide off of his nose and plummet into the syrup.

"Wha?" Jack asked through a mouthful of food.

Ava shook her head. "Nothing."

"Something," Jack countered.

"Nothing."

"Something," Jack said more forcefully.

Ava opened her mouth to reply, when someone shouted above her.

"Everything!" the voice yelled, and the siblings looked up from their argument and saw John standing with their father leaning on him.

"You're weird," Jack said pointedly, while he pointed an accusing finger at John.

"Jack," Rose said warningly.

"Oi," John started, ignoring Rose and continuing forward and pulling out a chair for the Doctor to plop down in between him and Rose. "I wanted to play to. I like arguments, they're fun, right?" John looked between the Doctor and Rose, but they both shook their heads.

"Don't encourage them," the Doctor muttered, and reached across the table to pass a napkin in Jack's direction, where he had let his hand fall into his syrup.

Jack wiped it away with concentration, but only succeeded in spreading the sticky mess around both of his hands. The Doctor was about get up and help his son, but John did instead.

"C'mon, Jack," John requested, placing his hand on his shoulder and guiding him over to the kitchen sink. He served to lift the small boy and rinse his hands carefully between his own. The Doctor was almost surprised that Jack didn't protest the man picking up, but the feeling quickly passed as Rose reached under the table and squeezed his knee. Warmth grew in the Doctor as he continued to watch the nine hundred year old and three year old perfectly accept each other.

"There we go," John said, as he held Jack on his hip and looked at him intently. "Can't have you all sticky when we check you up today; you might get stuck to my stethoscope."

Jack's eye grew wide a bit, and he stared pulling so that John had to set him down on the kitchen floor. He scampered away from the Time Lord and crawled into his father's lap fearfully. The Doctor held onto him murmuring Gallifrean just for him. After the Doctor explained, Jack looked back up at John and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"You're not going to do anything bad, right?" Jack asked, still sitting him the Doctor's lap. "Daddy never takes us to anybody but him and Martha, sometimes."

"Well, I checked your Dad out and he's still alright, right?" John asked, glancing at Ava, who was staring at him silently through a stoic mask. He grinned winningly at her before turning back to Jack and saying, "I think he might even be feeling a bit better. That's my ship; she's very helpful with things like this."

"Is the TARDIS going to make Daddy better forever," Ava asked, leaning over the table and staring at John and her father.

John considered the best answer. A flat 'no' certainly wouldn't be the best, and a 'yes' would lead to the two children's hearts being broken twice as hard.

"Well, she's doing her best, but there's still a lot left for me to fix," he explained, letting his eyes stray from Ava and gaze at Rose. "But, I promise that I'll do my best."

Jack snuggled deeper into the Doctor's side; he felt his father wince slightly underneath him. However, seeing that he didn't pull away; Jack stayed clutching at him harder. Jack's Gallifrean wasn't very accurate yet, but the Doctor could pick it out.

"Of course, Buddy," the Doctor replied. "I'll be there the whole time, and with Ava if she wants."

"Yes, Daddy," Ava said eagerly, getting from her chair and walking over to him and holding onto his free hand. "I want you to."

"Alright," the Doctor agreed, giving them each a smile and hugging them tightly against him. He was grateful for that contraption of John's that brought down his fever. The kids wouldn't have felt as contented with him if he was burning up like last night.

"Ready then?" John asked, and Jack and Ava nodded slowly. He glanced at Rose who still had her hand grasped against the Doctor's knee. "You too, Rose."

She looked up at the new man's cheeky grin and fought the urge to roll her eyes. He was a bit too silly in this regeneration for her liking. She thought cheeky was bad, but this was just flat strange.

"I'm coming," Rose muttered, getting awkwardly to her feet and following the Doctor leaning on John out of the room, while Ava and Jack walked on opposite sides of her.

***

It was decided that Rose would get scanned by the John first, as she sat back on the bed and let John's skilled hands work the machine over her abdomen. He read the results slowly on the screen, careful not to miss anything. The Doctor was sitting next to her; while rubbing her shoulder.

She knew there was probably nothing wrong with the baby; she had just been to see the doctor, but that didn't make it any easier. The child needed a link eventually even if it was years off.

"What's the readout say?" Rose asked, looking at John who was stepping back and making some more notes on a letter pad.

"Says for a human child he's fine, healthy, and he does have a link, but he won't start to deteriorate from it like the Doctor until he's a lot older," John explained, setting down the monitor. "I did find out the date you're going to deliver though, if you would care to know."

Rose raised an eyebrow and eyed him dubiously. "You can do that?"

"Rose Tyler, do you doubt me?" John stepped back with mock hurt. "I thought we knew each other better than that."

"Just tell us," the Doctor chipped in.

"He will be born in exactly eleven days," John told them.

"He?" The Doctor asked. "A boy?"

"Yep," John replied, popping the 'p' loudly. "Even Earth doctors should have the technology to test that. Did that universe not have ultrasounds yet?"

"No," Rose replied, giving a soft smile in the direction of the Doctor. "We  
>were just planning on being surprised."<p>

John shrank away slightly, but Rose caught his shoulder. "S'fine, I think my husband was regretting not wanting to know anyway."

The Doctor gave an innocent look, but Rose couldn't help but laugh. She pressed a small kiss into his cheek. "You seem to be feeling better."

"Much, the TARDIS is helping and I'm on top of the cycle," the Doctor explained.

"What cycle?" Rose asked.

"It's sort of like a rollercoaster in your mind," John explained. "You continuously cycle through conscious thought and unconscious thought. With humans you take care of that with sleep, but Time Lords lack sleep. The Doctor still has a Time Lord brain so he cycles throughout the day. So, it's not really like a rollercoaster; it's more like a merry-go-round only different, understand?"

"No," Rose said.

"Brilliant," John exclaimed as if he hadn't noticed that Rose's answer was negative.

"I'll explain later," the Doctor muttered in her ear.

"How long does a cycle last?" Rose asked the Doctor.

He shrugged. "Could be a few minutes–could be a few hours. It's just a matter of luck more than anything."

"That's why your headaches only came every now and then, right?" Rose asked, leaning her head on his shoulder while John put away his file on Rose and moved over to the two children watching quietly on the other side of the room.

"Exactly," the Doctor confirmed; while Rose slipped off the bed and sat next to the bed in a plastic chair, while John brought Ava over and plopped her in the Doctor's lap. She was tense against him while she stared at the new man with suspicion.

"What are you gonna do?" Ava asked, while she squirmed slightly and pushed herself close to her father. He cooed softly to her and brushed back some of her stray curly, brown locks.

"He's just gonna run that scanner over you, to see how your brain is developing, and then he'll just check you over, like your temperature, lungs, and heart. Just like Martha does."

"He did it to you earlier?" Ava asked and John nodded confirmation.

"You'll be fine, sweetheart," Rose said from the side, while she rubbed her shoulder.

John stepped up carrying scanner that was smaller than the one he used on Rose. It looked almost like the portable metal detectors that security guards used before you went in a museum or airport.

"Okay, Miss Ava," John said turning on the scanner so it hummed softly. "I'm gonna need you to stay very still, alright? If you get scared just squeeze your mum or dad's hand, but stay still or it won't work, got it?"

Ava didn't move.

"Ava?"

She grinned widely. "You said not to move, that means talking and nodding," Ava stared at John before shifting her gaze to the Doctor. "Right?"

"Cheeky," was all the Doctor could mutter to his daughter, as John began to move the scanner around Ava. The Doctor slid his hand into his daughters as John began to circle the scanner around her head a bit too close for Ava to feel comfortable.

"There now, my brave girl," the Doctor muttered the words over and over again in Gallifrean, when John finally finished his scan. Ava noticed the words weren't being said with the Doctor's usual grace. They were choppier like he was struggling with saying them. She assumed he must be scared like she was, so she didn't say anything about it when she could move again.

"Alright-y then," John said cheerily as he pulled a stethoscope out of his tweed jacket and began to rub it vigorously to warm it up. "Lean forward so I can hear those lungs."

Ava complied letting John get a long listen. She did much better with the more routine medical procedures, letting John take her blood pressure and temperature with ease. She still was guarded toward the new man, but she didn't think he was dangerous anymore.

After Ava was done, it was Jack's turn to sit in his father's lap, letting his words of comfort wash over him. He was considerably more outgoing than Ava and had already started to rival the Doctor and John's gob.

"All done, Mister Jack Tyler," John gave a goofy bow and helped Jack down from the bed.

"Everything seems normal, like we expected. Both are too young to have developed telepathic links and are malleable enough that I could link to them if worst comes to worst," John said with satisfaction while he turned to the Doctor and Rose. "They'll be fine."

Rose and the Doctor sighed in relief and hugged each other tightly.

"Thanks, John," the Doctor said genuinely. He reached over and gripped the man's shoulder. "For everything."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Two more days passed and the Doctor wasn't as fortunate as his first day in the TARDIS. His mind was slowly slipping away, and more and more of his time was spent living in the past. In his latest episode he had managed to slip into a Northern accent and apologize to Rose for taking her to see her planet die.

Rose stayed with him through all his ups on downs, rarely leaving his bedside in the TARDIS across the hall from the kids. Nothing seemed to be able to break the Doctor out of the constant cycle, as his synapses continued to break apart and separate more nerves from their places. When he was calm and not showing much pain, Rose read to him from Ava's book. The Doctor traced the words and followed them like a guide to his memories.

They were tales about all the adventures he had ever told the kids about. The tales stretched from when he had first stolen the TARDIS from that junkyard to when he had destroyed the Daleks. Of course, Ava had written the stories all out of order. Time was all wibbly-wobbly after all.

"…The Doctor ran through the dungeons of the scary department store and found a very, very, very pretty girl down there. He took her hand and said one word–just one word–'run.' It was love from first sight," Rose read in a soft voice filled with as much wonder as when that day was real. She turned the book in the Doctor's direction and let him look at the picture Ava had drawn of a man dressed in all black running with his hand entwined with a girl with flowing blonde hair.

"They defeated the monsters and travelled together in space… because it also travels in time too," Rose smiled and closed the book, setting it aside on the dresser beside the Doctor's bed. "She's spent ages on that book ya know."

The Doctor gave a small smile and brushed some of Rose's hair away from her face. "I know. I remember she wouldn't let me, but I guess she changed her mind, right?"

A sympathetic smile spread across Rose's lips as she nodded and placed her hand over the Doctor's where it lay over the covers. "Yes, Doctor. You remember? She gave it to you were taken to hospital. She said staying in bed was boring without something to read."

Struggling to recollect, the Doctor rubbed his eyes and made an attempt at a deep breath. It was a pitiful attempt, and as usual it ended in a coughing fit. Rose held onto him through it. They were entering the most important journey of their lives that would through their hardest name in their direction. And, Rose knew that if there was one thing that you needed for your longest journey it was a hand to hold.

~/~

John was in one of the TARDIS's labs bent over a microscope and staring at the sample of blood from the Doctor. He had compared it to his own, but there was no chance of matching it. They might as well have been strangers to each other. Every cell in his body had exploded and rebuilt itself into a completely different pattern.

"It's impossible," John muttered in frustration. "I'm rubbish in this body."

Picking up the little results that he had gotten, John stepped out of the lab and collided with Ava in the corridor. His papers went flying and fell to the floor in every direction. Ava stooped to pick them up, but as she knelt one of the papers seemed to catch her eye. She pushed the others aside, letting them fly even further apart from where they were.

"Oi, that's rude," John grumbled, but Ava held up her hand to stop him.

She traced her fingers over the intricate Gallifrean words and slid down onto the floor. She set it aside on the floor and took the papers John was just beginning to gather and order again. She spread them out and began skimming over them before he found the one she was looking for.

She pulled the sheet that she had pulled out before and compared it to the latest sheet.

"Look there," Ava said pointing to one of the symbols on the first sheet.

"It's the Doctor's brain activity from two hours ago," John said shrugging.

"And, here." Ava took the other sheet of paper and pointed to a different symbol.

"That's your brain activity when we ran that test two days ago," John said not seeing the point. "Why?"

"They're identical," Ava said pointedly. Her hands went to her hips as she rolled her eyes at the man standing in front of her. "I'm five and you're like five thousand. You're s'posed to be smart."

"I am," John defended, crossing his arms and snatching the sheets away from the little girl. "And, I'm not that old."

"Focus," Ava chided him and began flipping through the other sheets of paper quickly.

"You're five, how can you even read Gallifrean?" the Doctor asked. "Time Lord's didn't learn the symbols for sciences until they were at least twelve."

Looking smug, Ava snorted. "I'm clever. My daddy says so. Now, could we get back to this and figure out how to fix him. Because, all you've been doing for the past two days is mope."

"Fine," John capitulated. "Now, since you're so clever will you explain to me what's so significant about your findings?"

"It means that we're the same," Ava said pointedly. "I can help him then right?"

John gave her a small grin, as he picked her up into his arms and held onto her tightly. "No, Ava."

"Why, not?"

"Because you're not old enough, if it was in about three years from now then you could, but…" John murmured softly to her. "It won't work."

"Can't you try?" Ava asked, sniffing slightly and wiping her nose with her shirt sleeve.

"I can't risk it," John told her. "Your mother would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you. There's too much danger in you trying to link to your father with the strength that would require."

Ava nodded slightly, but didn't seem to agree. Instead, she wiggled from John's grasp and started walking down the corridor again.

"Ava, wait," John called after her.

Turning back around, Ava stared at him as if sizing him up. "I wanna see  
>Dad."<p>

John nodded. "I'll go with you."

Ava nodded while she let John join her and walk down the hall into the Doctor's room.

When Ava and John stepped inside, the Doctor and Rose were sitting next to each other on the bed. The Doctor was staring at her with a wide smile. He motioned for her to join him.

"Dad?" Ava was wary of him. The last time she saw him this morning he kept saying she couldn't be his because his Ava was a baby.

"Hello, Ava," the Doctor greeted his daughter warmly.

"You remember?" Ava asked fearfully.

"Of course I do," the Doctor said softly, while she ran up to him and gave him a hug. "How could I forget my Ava?"

"You already did," Ava whimpered. The hurt in Ava's voice made the Doctor's heart shatter in his chest.

"I never will again," the Doctor promised, while he pulled Ava closely to himself. He glanced over her shoulder at John holding a pile of papers. The look in his face told the Doctor that John hadn't found anything out. Ava picked up a flatness in her father's voice. She didn't know exactly what was causing it, but she had a pretty good idea. A small cry escaped her and a tear wet the Doctor's t-shirt.

Rose reached over and rubbed her daughter's back lovingly. Ava shifted from the Doctor to Rose and wrapped her arms around her mother. She wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Can you take me to bed, Mummy?" Ava asked softly. She didn't know what time it was, but she knew that all she wanted right now was to sleep. Maybe if you slept during a nightmare, you woke up in a dream.

~/~

Jack was sitting up in bed with a math textbook sitting on his lap. He scowled at it and closed it letting it fall to the floor, but it appeared right next to him again. The ship hummed stubbornly, while Jack opened the textbook again and tried to understand the lesson.

"I don't want to," Jack told the ship, but she didn't reply to the young boy.

"What'cha doing Jack?" Rose asked, as she and Ava walked into the room.

"Nothing," Jack muttered, but the TARDIS hummed to Rose–who let a smile stretch over her face.

"I'd listen to her if I were you, Jack," Rose told him, while she let Ava slip under the covers of the twin bed opposite Jack's. "She's stubborn."

"I can tell," Jack said with a scowl.

Rose chuckled as she took the textbook from Jack, gently stroking the wall and silently asking the TARDIS to loosen up.

"You want a story tonight?" Rose asked Ava.

"Uuhuuh," Ava said shaking her head from side to side. She slid her glasses off her nose and snuggled deeper into the covers.

"Alright," Rose said softly. "You, Jack?"

"I guess not," Jack denied, while he watched Ava shake her head behind Rose's shoulder.

"Okay then, goodnight, you two," Rose said, kissing them both on the forehead before walking out.

~/~

Papers were being exchanged between John and the Doctor. John could tell the Doctor was having trouble comprehending the findings, but it made him feel better to have him look.

"Ava's very clever," John muttered distractedly.

"Yeah, she is, always has been," the Doctor agreed. "She's pretty far ahead of her class even though she's been moved up about four times now."

"And, Jack?" John asked, as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began to buzz the Doctor up and down. When he read the reading, he swallowed thickly.

"He's clever too, but I think he hides it," the Doctor admitted. "He tries to fit in."

John nodded watching the Doctor carefully. He was getting tired, but John had read the scans and knew that sleep wasn't an option right now. "Stay awake, Doctor."

"Why?" The Doctor closed his eyes and coughed deeply trying to catch his breath.

"Because," John started, while he pulled the Doctor up to a sitting position to rouse him. "If you fall asleep now, you'll fall into a REM cycle and remain in a constant dream state for as long as your body holds out."

"Don't care… tired," the Doctor argued weakly. He let the John get him into a seated position, while he felt bile rising in his throat. "Gonna… be sick."

The Doctor's breathing was coming in short gasps now while he doubled over clutching at his stomach. He was sick in a bucket the TARDIS had hastily placed at his disposal. Sweat ran like rivers down his face and back.

"Come on, Doctor," John muttered, taking off the covers from the bed and shaking the Doctor vigorously. "Stay with me."

Letting his eyes slip shut, the Doctor grunted something incomprehensible to no one in particular.

It was at that moment that Rose walked into the room. Her eyes were as saucers as she took long, awkward steps towards her husband. She sat on the edge next to her and gripped his shoulders forcefully.

"Doctor," Rose gently, but her voice had a cut to it. "Doctor, look at me."

Complying slowly, the Doctor stared at Rose, letting his hand reach up and touch her cheek softly. "Hello."

"Hello," Rose replied. The usual joy and mirth in her voice from _their_greeting was absent. "Talk to me, Sweetheart. Tell me a story."

"You know all my stories," the Doctor muttered, trying to drift off.

"I don't care," Rose muttered. "Tell me about yesterday. What'd we do yesterday?"

"We went to Women Wept again," the Doctor muttered. "You said that's where you wanted to go."

Rose nodded encouragingly. She remembered that day. It was shortly after she had lost her first Doctor and gained the lanky, rude, not-ginger, brilliant Doctor. Her heart clenched as the Doctor told her about how they ran. She still wasn't sure how either of them had managed to keep their balance throughout the night.

"It was your hand in mine," the Doctor murmured. "That kept me standing."

"I thought it was yours in mine that kept me up," Rose made a pitiful joke. She let her thumb drift across the Doctor's knuckles in a steady, constant pattern.

"You were beautiful," he whispered.

John moved to the other side of the bed, pressing his stethoscope into the Doctor's single heart. Rose looked up at him, but the Time Lord didn't give her any encouraging signs.

"That's it my Doctor," Rose said softly, she stroked his cheek and kissed his forehead.

Clutching at his head, the Doctor turned away from Rose violently, he shook violently as he tried to keep a hold on the memories he was losing. "I… don't… I remember… I know… Rose…"

"Keep talking Doctor, tell me about everything that's been going on." Encouragement flooded over the Doctor as he nodded.

Over and over again he told her what he did 'yesterday.' He told her about the time they spent together. His rougher attitude was immediately familiar to Rose as he continued to drift farther into his personal past. He talked for almost half an hour before the inevitable happened. The Doctor drifted off

The Doctor screamed.

It was vial and archaic in Rose's ears as she tried to hold onto him, but he pulled away. John moved in from where he had been sitting silently watching the Doctor. He put all of his weight into holding the Doctor onto the bed; while, he threw himself from side to side–flailing like he was an invisible child's ragdoll.

"No!" the Doctor screamed. "I won't! Don't make me! I can't!" The Doctor shifted between Gallifrean and English erratically, while he clamped his  
>eyes shut tightly against an unknown force. "Please, Rassilon, Please! I can't! Let me die with them… let me go too…"<p>

The Doctor trailed off as images of the Time War flashed before his eyes. John held his put his hand to the Doctor's forehead and tried to calm him with soft Gallifrean, but it was futile. He was deaf to anything John or Rose said right now.

"He's reliving the Time War," John explained. "He doesn't know he's not there now. That's why he couldn't sleep. He's reliving his nightmares."

Rose shook her head and placed her hand on the Doctor's cheek.

"Can't you do something?" Rose asked. Her voice cracked with emotion; while she brushed back some of his soaking wet hair. "Make him better?"

John bent over in his chair, resting his chin on his hands. After a moment's thought he nodded slowly. "There is. I can't fix him, but I can draw his memories out so he knows what's going on."

Nodding vigorously, Rose stood up. "Do that, then."

John's new green eyes misted over slightly as he stared at the Doctor lying in the bed. He shivered terribly with his face twisted in agony. He couldn't tell if it was from the pain of remembering the Time War or the pain from falling through his mind.

"It's not that simple, Rose," John insisted. "If I go into his mind and bring those memories back it would severely weaken the little bit of mental shields he has left. Not to mention the rapid influx of memories. It might shatter him." John paused for a minute. His eyes darting like green missiles from the Doctor to Rose. "It's like this…imagine an egg that you wanted to fill with more…egg stuff… you would have to drill through the shell first and probably crack it in the process, and then if you tried to force fill the egg, those cracks would be magnified and the whole thing would shatter."

John's eyes stared hard at Rose for a second–his face deadly serious. "He would die tonight, Rose. Without a doubt."

Rose sniffed and nodded. She looked at her husband. He was stark white, glistening with sweat and weak. He had drifted so far back and for good now, which he was passed when they even knew each other. She let her hand drift to his chest and feel the erratic beating of his heart beneath her gentle touch.

"How long can he last like this?" Rose asked in barely a whisper. Her hazel eyes challenged John slightly behind a mist of tears.

"Tonight," John mumbled.

"Then at least let him know what's going on," Rose begged him. "He's told me a bit about the Time War–I can't even imagine what he didn't tell me–but, you know. You know what he's going through right now _again_. How could you just let him sit there through it?"

John shook his head. "I'd kill him."

"You'd give him his life back."

"He'd still be dead."

Rose stood up, and faced John. "He's not living now. It's torture. You said either way he dies tonight, then isn't it up to us to make him comfortable? Make him feel as at home as possible? Let him be himself?"

John studied Rose. She never did change did she? She was always having her own line of what's right and what's wrong–a line that she wouldn't let anyone cross. She put a hand on the Doctor's bicep and squeezed it tightly. "Please, Doctor."

John nodded, gently motioning Rose aside. "Alright, just stand back for a minute."

John stepped forward, gently touching the Doctor's temples and closing his eyes. The Doctor tensed under the strange sensation. He raised his arm to resist John, but Rose gently lowered it to the bed, while she gently stroked it.

"Relax, Doctor," John almost cooed. "Let me in."

The Doctor's face calmed as John took a deep breath and tried to mend what was broken.

After a few minutes, John stepped back and roused the Doctor by giving his shoulder a firm shake. "Come on, Doctor."

The Doctor groaned and looked up at John. His face was the picture of exhaustion, but he gave John a grin that told him everything, 'thank you.' John smiled back at him gently, letting his eyes drift to Rose who was still holding the Doctor's hand. The look was enough for the Doctor to follow.

"You remember now?" Rose asked softly.

"Yeah." The Doctor's voice was barely audible, but Rose hung on it.  
>"Everything." The Doctor gently reached out and brought his hand to Rose's abdomen. He carefully traced circles into the life growing within her. He was still mystified by it. Under muscles, tissues, and fluids was a tiny life he had helped to make. Something flashed inside the Doctor's eyes. Nine days left. That's what John had said and the TARDIS was never wrong when it came to babies.<p>

"He's sleeping," Rose whispered to the Doctor. "Must be tired like his daddy."

John slowly stepped out the door of the room to collide with two kids leaning against the door.

"What are you two doing?" John whispered harshly, while he shut the door behind him. "I thought your Mum put you to bed."

"She did," Ava said.

"You talk loud," Jack said. His head hung lowly, and John regretted chastising them.

"Hey," John picked up Jack, took Ava's hand and led them into the kitchen. "What d'you say to some hot chocolate?"

Ava shrugged and sat on one of the chair, while Jack didn't reply to the question and only clung on closer to John. Moving his hand up and down Jack's back, John didn't show any signs of putting him down, as he worked with one hand through the kitchen.

"Is Daddy okay?" Jack asked.

John sighed and shook his head. "He's very sick, Jack."

"You promised to fix him though," Jack pointed out.

"I know."

"So, help him," Ava said pointedly.

"There's nothing left to do, Ava," John confessed. "I'm sorry."

Ava shook her head and leaned forward on her hands. Her brown hair, loose from any ties or clips, fell like a curtain around her face. John abandoned the mugs and sat down next to her, reached his free arm around her shoulders. She tried to turn away at first, but John held onto her and soon she was leaning into him.

~/~

The TARDIS had dimmed the lights in the Doctor and Rose's room. Rose's hand was still wrapped tightly around his. She didn't know how long ago the Doctor had slipped away from her. Ever since it happened, she felt like Time had just frozen. Maybe it did. What was the point if he wasn't there?

Rose took a deep breath and finally let go of his hands. She pressed her lips against the Doctor's closed eyes. With a murmured 'I love you,' Rose walked out of the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update this, it's been a very hectic week.

**Chapter 8**

Ships can mourn. They creak louder, hum more frequently and try desperately to fill the silence; even when there were four other passengers on board. He was one of her Doctors. With her own will, she had helped create him to save the universe. He was as much the Doctor as all of her others, only he was finite. An endless pit cannot fill with love, there has to be a bottom–an end–to fill.

Even she couldn't have predicted this. She would have liked to, but she couldn't. She wove herself in time, but she was not time. She needed hands to tie the lines, and eyes to see where to go. She could guide, but she could not lead.

~/~

Rose curled up next to Jack and Ava while they curled into her in the TARDIS's sitting room. She realized that Rose wouldn't have wanted to stay in the same bed that the Doctor had died in–at least not yet. The wound was still too fresh to heal it with acceptance. She still felt like the Doctor's hand was twisted into hers and their last kiss.

A small groan escaped Jack's mouth while he burrowed deeper into his mother's side and slid deeper under the thick blanket Rose had thrown over the three of them. He was constantly squirming, and trying to sleep, but Rose knew in a few hours or so he'd give up and begin walking around the depths of the TARDIS trying to get his mind off his father.

A hand smoothed back his hair when Rose reached over and soothed his thoughts. She wanted to tell them that everything would be alright, that nothing was going to change even if the Doctor wasn't around, but she couldn't. John had promised to take care of the three (going on four) of them, and to help the kids when they were old enough to be linked, but young enough to be malleable. It wasn't the same though; John hadn't been the one to hold her when things went wrong. He didn't feel the pain from the loss of their first two children, and hence didn't have the protective streak that the Doctor had developed. He was a Time Lord, but he wasn't her Doctor.

Her husband had told her the first day they were married that he was worried that he wasn't good enough for her. That he couldn't give her the stars.

_"I don't care," Rose had said, as she pulled him closely to her._

"You don't?" The Doctor had never fully gotten rid of the self doubt that had come along with being abandoned by the Time Lord.

"No," Rose promised him, and laid his hand palm side down on hers. She gently fingered his wedding band, which still had a foreign feeling to it. "I wear a ring to match that one for one reason and one reason only…"

The Doctor pulled her closer to him so that there was not a hair's width of space between them. Rose leaned her chin into his shoulder and positioned her mouth just above his ear.

"…I love you, Doctor, my Doctor, for as long as our forever lasts…"

She could still feel that forever. It was still close enough to see and feel, yet no longer to touch.

_Rose snuck up behind the Doctor, covering his eyes with one of her hands and letting her other reach into his hand. She felt his hands close around the small thin object, while his heart pounded in his chest._

"Guess what?"

"What?" the Doctor asked, there was a grin in his voice as he tried to wriggled out to take a look at what his wife had pressed into his hands.

"Guess," Rose teased him, letting his hand tighten further around the  
>object. "I'll give you three."<p>

"Is it a banana?" the Doctor asked, suppressing a laugh and turning around to face her, while she slid the object behind her back.

"Nope." Rose's smile widened while her teeth bit down on the tip of her tongue.

"A… pencil," the Doctor teased, he bent down and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"You're not even trying," Rose joked.

"A miracle?" He gently lowered his hand to cover his wife's stomach, and kissed Rose's lips.

"You could say that," Rose whispered, kissing him deeply and running her fingers through his hair.

He was so excited, Rose remembered thinking all that time that he was going to make the best father their child could hope for.

_Dreams never went right the first time, or the second, for them at  
>least. The Doctor held her hand through their hopes being shattered.<em>

"Twice…" Rose muttered spitefully; she let her tears flow in hot rivers down her cheeks while the Doctor held onto her tightly. He rubbed her back and didn't speak while she sobbed into him. She didn't scream; that was the worst part. She didn't cry out in agony, just silently cried into her husband.

"What's wrong with me?" Rose asked, begging to know.

"Nothing," the Doctor insisted. His eyes stared into hers, full of love and faith. "You're Rose Tyler, my perfect pink and yellow girl."

Rose couldn't nod in agreement, while she wiped away her tears and the Doctor took her hand and led her up to their bedroom.

Later that night, Rose felt the bed shaking slightly while the Doctor let himself grieve. Rose knew he needed to cry more than anything, so she gently looped her arm over his waist and covered his hand with hers but didn't speak.

She'd almost never seen the Doctor cry, but those few moments that he did; it made her feel just how human he was. He never cried in front of her or later the kids, but she would still catch him sometimes. The pain in his eyes and the agony hidden in the silence was like a torture for Rose.

_Rose ran her hand over the Doctor's while he kissed the top of her head. He didn't even seem to notice her touch as he stared over at the nurse approaching them with a crying baby girl swaddled in a pink blanket._

Rose held her hands out and softly cradled the infant in her arms while the Doctor traced a finger over her feather-light hair. She calmed under their gentle touch and cooing.

"She's perfect," the Doctor said wistfully. "Looks just like you."

Rose laughed. "She's a tiny, female copy of you, Doctor."

"Yeah, but it felt like the right thing to say," the Doctor joked. "A baby girl that looks just like her mum."

"She's wonderful either way," Rose told him. "Beautiful."

The Doctor smiled and took the new baby out of his wife's arms. She closed her eyes and tried for some much needed rest. The last moment locked in Rose's memory from that day was the murmured promise the Doctor gave to his daughter.

"I promise I'll never stray from you as long as I can help it," the Doctor murmured. Rose imagined that the Doctor was nuzzling the child softly. "This family was founded on forever."

Ava had been her father's daughter ever since that moment. He was always the one she ran to. She had been taking the Doctor's downward spiral worse than anyone else. Rose dared to even think that her five-year-old daughter had been hurting even worse than she was.

_"Daddy!"_

Ava sprinted out with her pigtails flying behind her. Her smile was wider than Rose or the Doctor had ever seen as he walked into their home from two weeks of a mission on the Isle of Man.

The Doctor opened his arms as the three year old flew into his arms. He spun her around and kissed the top of her head fondly.

"Hey there, long time no see, eh?"

"Too long," Ava said pointedly, pushing her face into his leg. "Don't go away again."

The Doctor frowned sympathetically. "I have to. It's my job."

"I don't want you to," Ava whispered.

"I always come back, though," the Doctor pointed out, as Rose showed up with baby Jack resting in her arms. He snuggled into his mother's chest and cooed to her.

The Doctor smiled at them and caught them both in a one armed hug, while his other fondly ruffled Ava's hair. She hung on his leg and leaned onto  
>his knee heavily.<p>

Rose grinned at her husband, her smile infectious as he beamed at her.

He had reverently refused to travel when Rose was pregnant, but Pete always seemed to come up with an excuse. Most of the time they were ridiculous, but when Rose was four months along; Pete was very insistent.

The Doctor was under his desk when Rose and Jack decided to surprise him at work. She had to bite back her laughter at the skinny legs poking out from under the desk, as he fidgeted with something.

"Hello, Doctor," Rose greeted him, as she got down to the floor and rubbed his knee. She was quickly rewarded with a high pitched squeak that couldn't have come from the almighty Oncoming Storm and a bang on the inside of the desk.

"Rose," he whined, "don't sneak up on me while I'm working."

He peaked up from his desk and saw Rose grinning at him with Jack.

"Is your work under the desk?" Jack asked, walking around to peak at the mountains of papers that were located under his desk.

"Half the rainforest is under his desk," Rose told Jack, while she picked up a piece of paper and began to skim it. "Doctor, this is from three years ago. I thought Pete told you to throw it out."

"I might need it, Rose," the Doctor argued. "D'you remember when I first started this job and I couldn't do paper work? Well never again, Rose. I'm too brilliant to be defeated by flat, dried pieces of wood pulp."

Rose shook her head and was about to say something to the Doctor about even this universe had invented a filing cabinet, when Pete stepped into the Doctor's office.

Jack perked up and went up to his grandfather, tugging at his pants leg. "Grandpa, Daddy has a rain forest under his desk."

Pete raised an eyebrow at Rose and she reached down to her husband still resting on his knees with his chin sitting on the top of his desk. She fondled his hair with her fingers; while, he tried to understand why his new system was in question.

After a few moments of awkward silence, the Doctor stood and took the file that Pete had brought in with him. He skimmed the folder's exterior before opening it and rapidly reading the contents. The Doctor looked up at Pete with shock and awe.

"You can't be serious," the Doctor put the folder down on the desk while shaking his head. "You're suggesting one troop of five people going to bring peace between two groups that have been warring for over one-hundred and fifty years?"

Pete shook his head. "No, I'm suggesting a troop of five people going to bring peace between two groups that have been warring for over one-hundred and fifty years, led by you."

Rose knew he could never turn down a challenge like that. His ego was as big as his hair especially since the meta-crisis.

_The phone rang almost constantly when the Doctor was away, most of the time it was him, checking up on her and the kids, but when she saw he father's name on the caller ID she got worried._

"Rose…"

He had been caught in the middle of two groups, trying to mediate, but the two leaders got infuriated and he got caught in the middle. Rose remembered the rage that ran through her that quickly dissipated to worry. She gathered up the kids from school and drove all the way to Torchwood with two very tired children dozing in the backseat.

He gave her a smile the minute she walked in the room, and she knew he was going to be fine–they were always going to be just fine.

~/~

Warmth surrounded Ava as she slept with her mother's embrace surrounding her. Something told Ava that she was just as desperate for comfort and companionship that she was. It wasn't long before she drifted off after her brother.

~/~

_Green fields stretched forever in all directions, as Ava walked out from seemingly nowhere. She's searching for someone, she knows it. There's a drive that repeats 'find,' over and over again until whatever you're looking for finally shows up in front of your view._

Ava only wished that she knew what that something was. It would make her search so much easier. She carried on across the stretch of green grass, a path of stone within easy reach, but she chose to stay with her feet planted firmly on the vegetation beneath her bare feet.

She was wearing a white dress that reminded her of a nightgown, but it was far too elegant to sleep in. She slid her hands down the sides of the silky material and tired to remember where it came from. It lacked pockets for her to dig her hands into, but she pressed on anyway. She continued to stare around her waiting for anything to jump out at her.

"Find him, Child," a feminine voice called from across the field. It was so soft that Ava thought it was the wind at first, but then it came again, stronger this time. "Find him, Child." And then again, "Find him, Child." Over and over again the voice grew louder as Ava circled around trying to locate its source, but she saw no one.

"Please," Ava begged. "You're scaring me."

"Do not be frightened."

Ava stopped cold. "Can…Can you hear me?"

The breezy voice chuckled. "Of, course I can. You are inside me aren't you?"

Ava rubbed her eyes and shook her head. Her knees suddenly felt weak and she squatted on the ground trying to make sense of anything that was going on around her.

"I just want my, Daddy," Ava whispered.

"I do to." The voice was the same as before, but this time it was real. It didn't echo across from all angles; it was right there with her, holding her attention.

Ava risked looking up to see an elderly woman standing above her. Her short, reddish hair was curled neatly and tucked behind her ears. Her clothes were all white while she kneeled in front of her. She looked angelic.

"He's dead."It was a statement no matter how much she wanted it to be a question.

"He is," the woman said.

"He burned," Ava said sniffing.

"And, how do you know that?" The woman examined Ava silently, making the five-year old squirm under her scrutiny.

"I just do," Ava replied with a shrug. "What does it matter now?"

"It matters more than you can know, Child." The woman replied, winking at the girl as she began to walk off.

Ava got to her feet to chase the woman, but she had already vanished. All that remained of her was a soft chuckle, which filled the breeze.

"No," Ava yelled after her. "No! Come back! Tell me!"

~/~

Ava woke with a start in the middle of the night, her heart pounded  
>painfully in her chest while she looked over to see her mother and Jack still sleeping. Her mother had turned on her other side in the middle of the night and was facing Jack now. It gave her an easier chance at wriggling away.<p>

Her bare feet touched the glass floor of the TARDIS sitting room causing a chill to run up her legs. Pulling a robe on from the door knob, she stepped out of the room while she made a knot around her waist. She listened to the sound of machinery coming from the console room. She briefly considered going in the other direction, away from John, but the noise called upon her. There was something familiar about the way the hammer connected with metal, or a ratchet being used to tighten something.

"John?" she whispered, as she stepped into the console room, but she was immediately taken aback. The room was constructed out of coral struts, warm and glowing golden. The console was blue-green and far less organized than the one that had first greeted her the morning before. It was the one that her father and mother had filled her dreams with. It was perfect.

The sight of the console almost distracted her from who was standing in the corner, facing her with the widest grin on his face–almost.

He stood there, leaning against the console like he had been expecting  
>her this whole time. Dark glasses perched themselves precariously on the tip of a long nose. Freckles dotted angular cheek bones and yielded to a boyish expression. Spiky hair stood on end and defied gravity as if it had a life of its own. His ankles were crossed as he leaned back in a textbook posture of nonchalance. From his converse sneakers to his blue pinstripe suit he was real and standing right in front of her.<p>

Without a moment's hesitation, Ava launched herself at her father. For the moment, she didn't care if it was him or not. He was close enough for her. He would hold her and everything would be fine. He would hold her and tell her it was all a dream.

His arms were strong, just as she remembered them. They held her while she repeated his name over and over again, like she was afraid that at any moment he would disappear.

"Never leave me, Daddy," Ava begged. "Never let go."

She looked up at the man desperately for reassurance, but he only offered her a sympathetic smile. "You're father has not left you, but you must ensure that he comes back."

Ava stared at the man with confusion, while she tried to wriggle from his grip. His voice was wrong, too refined for her father. There was no lilt that made her mother's heart melt or her confidence to grow.

"Who are you?" Ava whispered the question, but it rang loudly in her ears.

"Right now, I am the tenth reincarnation of the Time Lord, the Doctor," the man answered, but even then he was beginning to change. His form was shrinking in height, but gaining in girth, while his features become more feminine. "But, I can be many more beings."

The being, now a woman, stood in front of Ava. Her red curly hair and her white clothes feeling very real. Could there really be angels?

"But, you're… You were in my dream," Ava stuttered. "That's not possible."

"When is a five-year-old worried about what was possible?" the woman asked with grin. "Being five means whizzing about in rockets that are made from boxes, or conquering castles made from ocean sand."

"You left me," Ava said pointedly, ignoring the claims made by the woman and getting straight to the point.

"Is it really leaving when you come back?" the woman asked, a sage grin played out on her face.

"Yes," Ava answered immediately, but then she thought back to her father. He always came back; he never abandoned them. She hung her head lowly. "No."

The woman reached down and lifted her head back up. "That is right."

"Are you going to bring my daddy back?" Ava asked.

"I will help, but you must bring him back." The woman answered.

"When?" Ava asked, not bothering to know how, just wanting to know how long she would have to wait to be held in the arms of her father again.

"After the birth of your brother," the woman replied.

"That's eight days away!" Ava shouted, but the woman caught her shoulder.

"Only about eight hours actually," the woman corrected.

"The TARDIS said that it was eleven days three days ago," Ava said. "And, John said she's never wrong about babies."

A mirthful glint caught in the woman's eyes. "But, she can… embellish."

Ava scrunched her face up at the woman, but she merely winked and disappeared.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Broken Link**

**Chapter 9**

John sat with his legs crossed, feet propped on the console, and his head lolling backwards. His eyes stared blankly into place when the sound of footsteps entered the TARDIS. Tilting his head farther back, he caught sight of a sad-looking Jack walking on the ceiling.

Turning himself the right-way around, John offered him a small grin, but Jack ignored him and continued walking. His hands were shoved deeply into the pockets of his pajamas, _a habit that he must have gotten from his father_, John recalled. He circled the console and began to walk in the direction he had come, but John stopped him with a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Hold up there, Jack," John said, grabbing his shoulder. "What are you doing, walking around my ship in the middle of the night?"

The three-year-old shrugged his shoulders and tried to be on his way, but John kept holding him back. This incited a glare from Jack, but he didn't say anything.

John picked up Jack easily and set him down in one of the console room chairs. Kneeling in front of him, John saw the pain being carefully hidden beneath Jack's glare. The Doctor has told him that Jack liked to hide himself at school, but he didn't expect for him to be hiding within the TARDIS. There was nothing to hide from him. He knew the pain of loss, but not this young. John had assumed it would have been easier, but looking into Jack's eyes right here, right now, there was no chance of that. If anything, Jack was hurting over the loss of his father more than he had mourned Gallifrey.

He remembered the saying, 'the death of one is a tragedy, but the death of one million is a statistic.' There was no way to fathom the death of an entire planet, even for John. He didn't think about the millions of lives he slaughtered when he thought about home. He thought about the few people left on that planet that still loved him, after everything. It was their loss that made John grieve.

The Doctor had died, and that was Jack's world—his Gallifrey.

"C'mon, Jack," John coaxed, rubbing his arm slightly. "We're mates, remember, the syrup?"

A grin spread its way across John's lip and covered sorrow, while he smoothed back Jack's sleep mangled hair.

"That was before," Jack said harshly. "Friends don't break promises."

John shrank under the child's caustic words, but tried not to show it outwardly. "Don't be like, Jack." John said, taking on an edge to his voice. "You know I did everything I could, but there are some things I just can't do. I'm still getting used to this body, and you know what?" John's voice softened again, when he placed his hand on the boy's knee. "That's fine, the world moves on. I'm proof of that."

"I want my dad," Jack whispered, staring at John with a mixture of challenge and pain.

John nodded, his hair flopping down to cover his eye brows slightly.

"I know you do," John murmured, and then paused for a moment. He hadn't done this in such a long time. Daleks and Cybermen are so much easier than little boys. "I don't want to replace him, you know that, right?"

A shrug came over Jack's tiny shoulder's as he pushed his glasses up his nose. They threatened to come teetering off his nose at any moment. John wondered if it was a sign that Jack's defenses were falling.

"Let me be your friend?" John asked softly.

Jack nodded, and sat back in the chair, staring at his hands and watching where John had his grip. His hands looked soft, and new, not like his father's. They were worn, slightly rough from Torchwood missions with scars dotted areas. Could they really have been the same person at one point?

Inwardly, Jack shook his head. He didn't care about the stories that had been told to him since he was born. He didn't care if everything in the world said they were the same because they weren't.

At that moment, Ava walked into the console room, looking pale as she stepped over to John and Jack.

"Not you too?" John's voice was no longer serious, it lilted, while he got to his feet and jumped vertically into the air. "Sleep's important you know. Well, that's what I've been told, I never sleep, well I say never, more like seldom."

Ava offered him a soft smile as a form of reply, and glanced over her shoulder at Jack. He shifted a melodramatic glare in John's direction to get his point across to Ava, but she raised her eyebrow up a fraction to tell him to cut it out.

John's gentle gaze studied her closely, and suddenly there was no mirth in his voice. He reached out a hand, but she skirted away. She didn't understand what was going on herself, but she didn't want John to worry, or her mother. They had enough going on with the loss of her father and the upcoming birth of her brother.

Ava shrank away further, when John reached out his hand as if she were a frightened dog.

"Ava, come here," he requested with a soft tone. This time she approached him cautiously. Her head was bowed as she stared down at the item clasped in her hands. The journal she had given her father was clutched tightly in her hands, like an anchor. Her knuckles were white where she gripped it fiercely.

John gently placed a hand on her forehead and stared intently at her flushed face. His hands were like ice beneath her face. Ava had known that Time Lord's body temperature was lower than a human's because her father had a slight difference, but this was ridiculous. She jerked her face away and stared at the man with spite. The stare vanished when he knelt down and caught her shoulders gently. The touch was too similar to her father's for her to deny it.

"What's wrong," John asked, moving his hand up and down her upper arm in what was supposed to be a comforting motion.

Ava shook her head. "What isn't?" She shot the question back at him.

John gave her a small grin. "So much more than you think," John said letting his hand go to her hair as he lifted her into his arms. She gripped him around his neck and buried her face into him. She was so confused. She wanted his comfort, but she didn't. His smell was wrong, his hair was wrong, his voice was wrong, but his touch was so right. It had all the comfort that she had grown up loving.

John jerked his head around and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. He stared at him with a stare that was unsure. The Time Lord offered a slight tilt of the head and began to walk off in the indicated direction. Jack followed dutifully out of the console behind John and Ava.

~/~

Rose awoke from a fitful sleep on the couch in the TARDIS sitting room. Her hand gently skimmed across her stomach and caressed the life growing beneath. Her heart clenched at the thought of the Doctor never being able to see their son. An even stronger pang of fear ran through her, as she thought about her husband not being there for her. He had held her hand all the way through Ava and Jack's birth. She almost thought that he had been giving her strength directly through her grip.

"You'll be fine." A voice so familiar that it was mocking came into Rose's ears, and she didn't dare look up. She refused to be made a fool of through false hope. There was no hope, all hope did was hurt you in the end. She couldn't handle this now, all she ever wanted was gone and her heart was broken, and now even her mind was working to bring her more agony than she could bear. He heart was racing with fear that she was losing her mind, and she tried to curl in on herself. However, a gentle hand on her shoulder, and another on her cheek caught her and drew her gaze in its direction.

His eyes were gentle, pools of brown that seemed to glow in the dim light of the ship. She reached out to touch his cheek, but she stopped short. _Just a projection_ she thought to herself, _just a dream_.

The image of her husband saw her hesitation and took her hand in his and brought it up to his cheek. The stubble on this face, the slightly cooler temperature, the terrible skin, all pointed towards this image being real. A strangled noise that could have been a cough escaped Rose's lips, while she moved her hands up from his cheek to reach easily through his hair. The stiffness of the product he kept in it was tangible, the softness that ran deeper was welcoming, but Rose still wasn't sure. He couldn't be here, she reminded herself, yet again. He was not—could not—be standing here. It was impossible.

She liked impossible.

Gently, Rose cupped her hand behind the man's head and drew him in. She kissed him deeply, examining him, piece by piece, recognizing his taste. "Doctor," she mumbled against him, while he returned her kiss.

With her one hand cupped behind his head, she raised the other to gently touch his chest. The single beat was strong beneath the pressure of her hand. It was free of the flutters and spasms that had gripped it when he lay dying in his bed. His breaths were strong, sure without a detectable rasp. Even his eyes seemed to be renewed; they glowed with strength and love directed at Rose.

"Always," he murmured, even his voice was the same, the slight lilt was there. Even in the low light, she knew he was smiling. His dimples must be coming out now. The youthful feature betrayed years of wisdom and experience.

"How?" Rose muttered softly, but she stopped herself short of murmuring the full question. Thos was a miracle-one does not question a miracle. "No, don't tell me. I don't even want to know." Her heart was racing even faster now, elation raced through her veins like blood. He was here, and he would never leave her or the kids. He promised this years ago.

The Doctor faked a sigh of relief and brought her head into the crook of his neck. "That's good," his said through a small laugh. "Because, I haven't got the faintest idea."

The words fell on deaf ears, when Rose wrapped her arms around the Doctor's waist and breathed in his sent. He still smelled like him too, the smell of crushed cloves and ginger, with just that slight hint of oil from whatever he was working on at Torchwood. His single heart sounded in her ears and she let the rhythm calm her. She hadn't felt so much bliss since she had come back onto the TARDIS.

"Rose, you have to be strong," the Doctor whispered, his voice was pleading. "For me?"

"As long as you're here, I will be," Rose said with a smile, she pulled back to get a proper look at his face, now that her eyes were finally adjusting. She kept her hand cupped against his cheek, and he leaned into it. His hand covered hers with a fiercely, desperate grip. There was something eating deep in his stomach that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but Rose could feel it. She gave him an encouraging look, but with every passing second, the Doctor's eyes became less and less sure. There was a touch of an ache coming into view that Rose knew has been carefully concealed before.

He wasn't going to leave him. He promised.

"Doctor, what…" Rose trailed off when the Doctor raised two fingers to her lips. His touch was gentle but she couldn't accept it as such. It felt too much like a goodbye for it not to be a violent move in her mind.

"I love you," was only thing the Doctor managed to say. And, soon, his touch was no longer there. He couldn't feel her contact any more than she could feel his. She didn't even have time to reply to him, when he faded completely. There was no sound of static crackling like when he vanished from the beach. He was just gone.

Her Doctor was gone.

~/~

Sound whirred all around Ava as John moved around her and scanned her over with the same metal-detector-like machine that she had seen he had used early to look the three of them over. She felt the same shivers that had hit her when she was first scanned, but now instead it was Jack leaning on her shoulder rather than her father pulling her into his lap.

Jack was far quieter than their father was, but the comfort was still there none the less.

The Time Lord performing the tests on the other hand was far more of a bother. He was constantly bouncing from foot to foot as he distracted himself with stories from his previous lives.

"A scarf that nearly touched the floor—can you believe that?" He said giddily, as he ran a hand through his hand elongated hair and shook his head. "And, you two dare mock the bow tie and what about my leather jacket? Did your dad tell you about that?"

Ava and Jack didn't look at him, but John didn't seem to notice while he took away the scanner and pushed Ava onto her back and lifted Jack from the bed and onto a chair next to it. Ava recognized the machine as something that John had used on her dad earlier. He had joked about the vibrations that it made tickling slightly and eventually he had engulfed the room in laughs.

His laugh…

She longed to hear it. It meant that everything would turn out fine in the end, that nothing would ever go wrong as long as it rang in her ears.

Now that it was gone, did that mean everything would be wrong? That everything would collapse?

Part of Ava wanted that to happen more than anything. Jack would start talking like he used to. Mum would stop hurting, and maybe she'd see her dad again in some or other.

Ava sighed and pushed the thoughts out of her mind and focused on the machine that was circling around her. The vibrations were far from causing a tickling sensation it was downright uncomfortable. It felt like her teeth were going to be shaken from her head and her bones shook down to their soft marrow centers.

The last thing that Ava expected now was John's hand running through her hair. She had barely noticed that he had stopped his incessant rambling and was perched on the side of the bed. In his hands were a few pieces of translucent papers that he was layering on top of each other.

He furrowed his brow and a look of worry passed over his face. Ava was sure that John was seeing something wrong when a smile spread across her face. There was a dubious feeling that ran through her stomach, but she didn't want to believe anything was wrong, so she let it pass.

"You're fine, absolutely fine," John assured her, switching off the whirring machine and letting it sit on the table. "Must just be catching a cold."

Ava nodded and moved to slide off the table, but John caught her arm and held her on the table with a gentle smile. "Hold it right there, Miss Ava. We can't have you running around my TARDIS with a cold, what would the TARDIS think? Hmm? She hate's sick passengers, can't stand them. Always worried you're going to sneeze on a thermo-coupling and throw us into a supernova. That would be very painful, or maybe it wouldn't. I've never been thrown into a super nova before."

Once again, John was bouncing on his feet like a small child his eyes were wide with wonder.

"You wouldn't know either, I'm sure, but what if you did and lived? That would be a story for the grandkids, some day right—or your kids I suppose. You two don't have any o those yet do you?"

John gave Jack a hard stare, and the young boy turned his head as a soft smile came over him.

"Ooo! Look a smile!" John said with awe. "I didn't think they existed with you anymore, Jack."

Jack looked away and didn't say anything, but Ava could tell the smile had grown. Suddenly, there was a new respect or this Time Lord in her heart.

"Ah, well," John said with a shrug. He turned to Ava. "Now, ma'am, if you would please lift your sleeve and show me your arm."

Nodding shyly, Ava complied and waited while John pulled a vial and a syringe out of a jar. She watched as John slowly filled the syringe with the clear liquid and walked over to her. He murmured an 'it won't hurt a bit,' before he gently pressed the needle into her arm swiftly and covered the injection site with a cotton ball.

"There, now, hold that in place."

"Okay," Ava murmured, pressing her finger on the fluffy material.

John returned with a bandage and taped the cotton ball into place.

He carefully rubbed her other arm and briefly considered giving her a hug, but decided against it. Instead he picked her up and set her on the floor, while Jack scampered down next to her on the floor.

He inspected Ava's arm and looked at John with suspicion, but Ava elbowed his arm hard.

"Ow, Ava!" Jack yelped.

"John's being nice, so quit being mean," Ava said pointedly.

Jack glared at her, but murmured an apology to John, who was standing awkwardly to the side. He couldn't remember a time when he had to deal with children so young without their parents threatening to slap him, or maim him, or call the police, or lock him in a basement and never let him out until he was a shriveled old man.

He knew he shouldn't have tried to visit Rose Tyler as a three-year-old. Jackie certainly didn't have her daughter's habit of trusting a strange man.

"That's fine," John assured them eventually. "I understand. It takes time, right?"

Ava nodded, and without saying anything she wrapped her arms around his leg and breathed him in. John reciprocated after a beat and bit his lip, when he found Jack had decided to join in.

~/~

Lights turned off when Rose stepped out of the bathroom. Her eyes were red and puffy from the tears she had shed. She felt the child in her womb beginning to kick as he woke, and she brushed a gentle hand over him. Soft words fell from her lips as comfort to the growing child.

Rose couldn't help thinking that the baby had such strong legs. He would grow up running to love like his father, brother and sister. Who knows? Maybe he would even sweep some young girl off her feet with the word.

"Like father like son, right little one," Rose murmured mournfully.

The Doctor coming and disappearing, his words and the look he gave her filled her mind and every aspect of her conscious. Squeezing her eyes shut, she walked out of the TARDIS sitting room and into the hallway to see John standing with Jack and Ava in the hallway. She was grinning at them while he ruffled each of their hair.

"Hey, John," Rose greeted, walking over to him, but stopping short, by two toddlers dislodging themselves from John and wrapping themselves around her legs. She smiled at them and whispered a greeting to them.

"You two are up early," Rose said, but she knew better than to be surprised.

"Ava got a shot," Jack said blatantly, and Rose's eyes grew wider when she carefully knelt down and took Ava's arm in her hand.

"What happened?" Rose asked, directing the question at John, but not taking her eyes off her daughter.

"Just a cold," John assured Rose. "Just a small prick, she's fine."

Pinching her nose between her fingers, Rose nodded.

"Okay," Rose kept her voice leveled, but John could tell that he had gone wrong. "Just ask before you pump my daughter full of alien drugs next time, alright."

John smirked. "Rose Tyler, since when do you refer to any of my concoctions as 'alien.' That's not like you."

Rose gave him a short laugh. "Since you started referring to them as 'concoctions.'"

It was Ava's turn to speak up. "It didn't hurt, Mummy. Daddy said we can trust him."

Rose agreed by pressing a kiss into the top of her head and giving her a tight hug. Jack stood back with his hands shoved deeply into the pajamas that he was still wearing. Rose took careful note of both her children's attire and was soon corralling them into the bedroom the TARDIS had provided them with.

~/~

Rose sat on the edge of one of the twin sized beds in the bedroom. She was combing Jack's hair with limited success while, Ava was brushing hers out to get it ready for Rose to braid once she had tamed Jack's.

Eventually, the larger tangles were out, and Rose released him, so he could climb up to sit beside her side. With her hands free, Rose took her legs and curled them up cross legged with Ava sitting in front of her on the bed. Her fingers gracefully made a simple braided pig-tail on the side of her head. She tied it off with a blue scrunchie and did the same with the other side o her hair.

"There now, everyone's dressed," Rose said, her voice was tired, but satisfied as she got to her feet, but as she did so a sharp pain ran through her stomach.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"I want the Doctor," Rose told John. "I _need_ him. I saw him, please, bring him here."

Her words came out in sharp sentences, while John read some readings on the computer screen. She had managed to get Jack and Ava corralled into the kitchen, while the anxious Time Lord tried to get her to move directly into the med-bay. He didn't seem to understand her lack of a desire to let the Jack and Ava watch their mother in labor.

"I'm here, Rose," John assured her, while he set the readings aside for a moment to sit next to her. "And, I know that I probably one of the last people…"

Rose shook her head. "It's not like that," she breathed, while she pulled herself into a sitting position and tried to get a good look at the Time Lord's green eyes.

"Yes, it is, Rose," John said with a small smile. "But, the Doctor's not here. He's gone, Rose, there's nothing you can do to bring him back now, but don't think about that, eh? Just breathe or something. That's what they tell women to do, right, breathing's good, like bananas or fish fingers and custard."

Rose rolled her eyes at him and gritted her teeth against another contraction. "I saw him. I know I did."

Shaking his head from side to side, John took Rose's hand in his, while she squeezed it painfully. "You can't have, Rose. It's probably the TARDIS playing tricks on your mind. The translation circuits are reestablishing themselves in your brain. It only makes sense that your synapses would…"

John was cut off when a furious hand gripped the front of his shirt, just below his beloved bowtie. Rose's hazel eyes were filled with furry. Her voice was in a low growl when she spoke in a voice that was deathly quiet.

"I know what I saw, John. I know my husband. I've spent eleven years with him. I know him better than I know myself. It was him. He was there. I know he was."

Eventually, the pressure on his shirt was gone, and the fury melted from her eyes they turned from pools of anger to voids filled with sorrow. Tears poured over the edges of her eyes and John immediately wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't imagine the longing that Rose felt with her hormones raging inside of her—he could smell them.

"Oh, John, I'm losing it, I really am," Rose sobbed into him. "What am I gonna do without him?"

She was shaking, tremors running over her, as she struggled to cope with the avalanche of emotions that were coursing through her veins. She couldn't stop the feeling that she really did see the Doctor, that she would see him again. But, she knew better. The cerebral part of her brain told her it was impossible, and her heart just didn't want to hope. It would just end up shattered anyway. However, there was something burning in the pit of her stomach that said he was coming back to her. He had to. He was there under her fingers. Their kiss felt real when he embraced her. She remembered the softness of his lips, the way that desperation touched him in a way that she had never experienced before.

How could her mind have made that all up?

Even his hair and eyes were right. The steady thumping of his heart had matched hers. Was it too well matched? Was his smile too perfect for it to be truly him? That's what happened when you lost someone, wasn't it? That eventually all the flaws of that person leave your mind and all you remember is how perfect they were in your mind. The Doctor had called it selective memory, but Rose called it cruel.

It couldn't be the case now though, right? She couldn't be rewriting her memories of him could she? What did his smile really look like? Did his dimples really sink that deeply into his cheeks? Why are his teeth so straight in this memory? That was him right?

But that kiss, could it be her memories mixed with the TARDIS's psychic field?

It couldn't be. Like she said when he was no longer stone, her imagination wasn't that good.

"Shh," John soothed. "Don't think about that now." He gently brushed back her hair with his hand. Guilt washed over him at how he longed to tell her he loved her—like he had planned all those years ago, but never had the guts to.

He had to chalk it up to the Doctor; he had more bravery that he did. He had the strength to love, and the strength to die.

"Come on, Rose." His words were calming as he kept talking. "You're a Tyler. You haven't forgotten that yet, have you? Bronze in gymnastics, all pink and yellow, hanging from a blimp in the middle of the i_Blitz,/i _dimension jumping, 'run,' and brilliant wife and mother, Rose Tyler, you're brilliant, fantastic, molto-bene, cool, beautiful, makes you want to run into everything yelling 'geronimo,' you're someone worth fight for—no, that was what Captain Jack said, but the point still stands. You're strong."

Pride was evident in John's voice, while he kept his grip around her shoulders sure and steady. He had no desire to take the Doctor's place, but he was taking it upon himself to make sure he was there for her… and him.

"I was strong, because he was there," Rose told him.

"He was strong because you were there—I would know." John gave her a wink and the Rose gave him a soft smile. Her eyes were beginning to fill with pain again, but she was going to be strong. John was right she was a Tyler. Tylers were stronger than anyone else. They were survivors.

A few moments passed before John turned back to his papers; he smiled and placed a hand on Rose's belly. The touch was gentle but sure.

"Okay, Rose, a little bit more and you'll get to meet your son," John promised.

~/~

Ava was staring at some pictures that she had slipped into her father's journal. They were filled with memories, some that Jack couldn't remember; some of them were even from before he was born. All of them were a story for her though.

The image grasped in her hands this time was one the day that Rose had announced that she was expecting a second child. Ava was only two, clutching closely to her father's chest in the image, while his arm snaked it's was around his wife's waist and brushed her still-flat-stomach. There was a smile stretched across his lips, while Rose leaned against him. Her smile was equally vibrant, while Ava's head was hidden by the way she burrowed against her father's work suit.

His chin was sitting on the top of her head in a comforting posture.

"What's that picture from, Ava?" Jack asked, while he pushed a chair in her direction and sat next to her and looking at the image, while Ava slid it in his direction.

"When Mummy first told Daddy about being pregnant with you," Ava told him, while she thought back to that day. The memories were pretty hazy, but she remembered clearly how her father beamed at her mother and swept her off her feet in a crushing hug. He was so elated. Part of her wanted to be jealous, but she couldn't be. Her parents were joyful, so how could she deny them that.

"They look excited," Jack said with a grin.

Nodding her agreement, Ava replied, "They were. I had never seen them so excited before."

"They were excited for this baby too," Jack said, before trailing off.

Once again Ava nodded, and pulled out another picture and slid it in front of Jack's face. Ava was standing next to the Doctor in shorts and a tank top. Jack was close to the age he was now from where he was perched on his father's shoulders in swim-trunks and a t-shirt covered in sand. Rose was off camera taking the picture.

"I remember this one," Jack told her. "Daddy took the two of us to the beach for the summer, and Mummy teased him, because he got attacked by those sand crabs. He said they were evil."

A rare laugh escaped Ava's mouth and she nodded. "He was the one who dug up their home, though."

"He wanted to build a sand TARDIS," Jack giggled, moving the picture to the side and looking at the other ones, but neither the Ava nor Jack recognized this one. Someone must have slipped it into the journal.

It was of a man dressed in tight fitting jeans and a black leather jacket that looked like it had been to the end of the world and back. In his arms was a young woman with her eyes closed. There was a faint golden glow in the air around the picture. Ava decided it must be a play of the light.

"Is that Mummy?" Jack asked pointing to the girl in the picture.

"It is, child," a silky, angelic voice met their ears and they turned around. An older woman dressed in all white with curly red hair met them. Ava rose to her feet, but she didn't take a step forwards, partly because she was afraid of what was to come, and partly because her brother had decided to launch himself at, who was to him, total stranger.

"It's you," Jack squealed excitedly. "You're real."

The woman smiled. "Of course I am child. You didn't think I was only a dream did you? You need to pick up your math book from my floor by the way."

Jack giggled. "I'm sorry." His eyes were curious, while he took her hand and led her back to the table. "Can you tell me where this picture's from?" Jack's request was filled with innocence, but there was something serious ghosting across the woman's face.

"That was the birth of the Wolf," the woman explained, while she pulled a chair up and waited for the two children to settle into the chairs around her. Their eyes were wide with anticipation, but their mouths were closed.

"She was your mother, but she was more than that. She was a part of me too, and a bit of the Doctor as well. The Doctor thought the Wolf was just the Time Vortex being harnessed, but she was so much more than that. She was strength when the world was weak. She was light when darkness was the only thing for miles." The woman looked up to make sure they were still paying attention before she continued. "Your mother only held it or a short while and used it like a human. She saved lives—saved the worlds, but it was burning her. Your father when he was still a Time Lord in his ninth generation had to take the energy out of her to save her life."

"He kissed her, right?" Jack asked. "Daddy talked about that _l__ots_."

The woman smiled. "I bet he did. And, yes, he did. But, nothing is ever truly gone for good. Your mother held some of the vortex in her—it's harmless much like—umm" the woman paused, trying to think of something suitable to compare to. "Background radiation. And, when she had you two, she passed on a bit to you, and that's fine. It doesn't hurt you two either, but it does mean you can fix this, Ava."

Ava nodded. "You told me that before, but what can I do, and what about Jack and the baby?"

"They're too young to help, the strongest remnants of the Wolf lie with you." The woman was careful of how she chose her words. "You have to bring him back, Ava."

"How?" Ava demanded sharply.

She wanted her father back more than anything, but she knew better than to run into something head on. That's how her father got into most of his trouble according to her mother.

"Close your eyes," the woman whispered, and almost in a dream Ava complied.

Jack watched as his sister lowered her eyes and golden energy consumed her. Her brown braids blew back slightly while she reached her hand forward and gently touched his forehead.

He felt a release of pressure that he had never realized was there before. He smiled at the feeling of relief at first, but he couldn't help but let it slip away. He couldn't understand the feeling or why his sister was doing this. Ignorance was dangerous in Jack's mind, and something he seldom felt for real despite what he did in school.

"What's going on with her—" Jack asked, but when he whirled around the woman was gone without a trace. He turned his attention back to his sister, who was beginning to walk across the small kitchen and into the hall. "Ava, please stop, Mummy told us to stay here. We can't move it would be bad."

"I must help them," Ava said in a new voice, it was layered and transcendent, while golden energy streamed from all around her.

~/~

John was gently wrapping a tiny infant in a warm blue blanket, while his mother stared longingly at the child. He knew that she couldn't bear not being with the child, but he couldn't help himself from holding the child a bit longer than necessary.

He was so tiny, and perfect. His fingers were gently stuck into his mouth while he dozed lazily against John's chest. There was so much trust inside the child that he couldn't understand it. He was defenseless, weak, small and fragile, but he didn't say a word as he passed the child into Rose's arms.

She smiled at the child while she placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Hello little one, I'm your Mummy. Your…your Daddy wanted to be here more than anything, but… he couldn't. He loves you though, remember that, sweetheart."

Rose held the sleeping child closely.

"You've got a brother and sister too," Rose explained, while the baby stirred gently and opened his deep brown eyes. "They're brilliant, you'll love them, Jack's rather quiet at the moment, but he'll get better, everyone does eventually, and Ava's not usually this snarky either, but the same goes for her too. They'll be into meet you in a minute, I expect."

The child yawned, and continued to peer curiously at his mother with wonder. She brushed a nail over his cheek with a feather soft touch. She looked up when she heard the med-bay doors open with a creek.

She only half looked at first, but when she saw the gold streaming in the corner of her eyes, she did a double-take.

Her daughter was flanked by her brother, with golden energy flowing around her. Jack looked terrified of his own sister, while she seemed to float across the small room's floor and next Rose and the baby.

"Ava, sweetheart," Rose started, "talk to me,"

"I'm Ava, the Child of the Wolf, and I'm here to save him." Ava reached out and barely touched the forehead of her youngest brother. A look of peace passed over his face while he looked up at his mother with contentedness and drifted off to sleep. "My father is next. I have healed my siblings, but his death is not meant to be either. He is meant to go beyond this. He must breathe again." More golden energy streamed from around her.

"The name you gave me was perfect…Ava. It comes from Eve meaning bringer of life or to breathe life into…It's perfect." It wasn't long after Ava had murmured those words that her face contorted, and she screamed in pain, for what seemed like the longest time before falling to the ground in a cold heap.

~/~

The Doctor was falling through time, back to where he knew he was needed. He felt Rose's presence and he followed it. She was so afraid. She needed him.

He didn't care if he was travelling forwards, backwards or sideways he had to help her. He had to see her. He didn't know if he could stay, but he didn't care. His Rose had whispered 'help me' and he was on his way.

~/~

Time was more constant now. The Doctor felt himself growing solid on the bed that he was sure that he was going to die on. He remembered the way his head ached, and the way his chest felt like it was going to explode in seconds, but they were completely gone. He was fine, perfectly fine. He was better than that he was reborn. There was a slight golden tinge in the air and he began to panic.

Had he regenerated? Would Rose accept him?

His hands went to his face, bad skin, big hair and a thin structure, but that wasn't definitive enough for him. He reached behind his back and up his shirt. His fingers went straight for the familiar spot right between his shoulder blades.

"I love that mole," he said cheerfully, as he stepped out of bed, surprised that he was free of any nausea at all.

His steps were sure; as he let the new TARDIS guide him to his wife and his newly grown family. There was a slight guilt to her guidance, but the Doctor barely took notice.

He opened the door to see a new baby wrapped in a blue blanket and sleeping peacefully in a bassinet. Jack was leaning against the bed, staring at the child and fidgeting with his feet. He expected to see John and Rose hovering over the sleeping infant as well, basking in the wonder that was the small creation, but they weren't.

John was carefully lifting the Doctor's daughter from the floor of the TARDIS. She was limp in his grip and as pale as a sheet, while Rose kept saying her name frantically. The Doctor was warring within himself as to whether or not to run and meet his son or hold his daughter. Eventually, Ava won out, the infant didn't look to be in any immediate distress, and in fact he couldn't look happier.

He cleared the space between him, John, Rose and Ava. The two adults didn't even appear to take note of him at first, as he placed his hand gently on his daughter's warm forehead. It was then that Rose looked up and caught a sight of him. Joy warred with confusion on her face and the Doctor was the first to speak.

"What happened?" the words were soft and fragile.

Rose shook her head, at a loss for words, so John answered.

"I think Ava must have taken in what little of the Bad Wolf had passed to her from Rose. She brought you back and healed all the links with you and the boys. It's amazing. It's scientifically impossible. She should have burned up, she should be dead. She shouldn't even…"

"Shut up," the Doctor snapped, as he lifted Ava from the bed and into his arms. She leaned into his with a soft groan while he slid onto the floor next to the new baby, and Jack who was explaining something to the sleeping child.

He pushed his way into his father's free side and murmured his thanks or him being back. The Doctor kissed the top of his son's forehead, when he felt Ava stirring against his chest.

"That's it, my girl," the Doctor whispered encouragement to his daughter. "Let me see those eyes, eh?"

Ava pried her eyes opened, and stared at her father with a tired gaze. "'S good to see you," she whispered softly. "I…I missed you."

"I know…I know, but I'm here now," the Doctor assured her. He looked up to see Rose slowly sliding down to sit with her back against the base of the bed and the baby facing the front of her. John had slipped out of the door, presumably to leave the five of them alone.

"Are you better" Ava asked, letting her eyes drift shut.

"Thanks to you," the Doctor added, while holding her more closely with the back of her head cupped in his hand and her face pressed against him chest.

He was back, but what had it cost Ava? He never wanted this to happen—it couldn't be worth it. He was meant to suffer for his children, not the other way around. He should have protected them better.

Rose reached out and touched his shoulder. He looked up at her with pain leaching over his face, but it wasn't like when he was burning from the inside out. The pain ran deeper into him, and brought him more agony.

"We're all fine now," Rose assured him, placing a hand gently on Ava's shoulder reaching across to kiss her. "Go back to sleep, Darling."

Ava nodded and yawned tiredly, snuggling deeper into the Doctor's chest. Jack latched onto his leg when he got to his feet, and Rose picked up the bassinet. She led the Doctor out of the med-bay and into the children's room. He laid his daughter gently on the bed closest to the door and covered her with the covers still upturned from the morning.

She didn't respond to his actions until he gently pressed a kiss into her temple, when he was rewarded with a soft murmur. The Doctor allowed a smile to flit across his lips before he moved to Jack and tucked him in the bed next to the one he had set Ava in.

"Sleep tight, Jack," the Doctor whispered, while he slid the glassed from his son's face and placed them on the table next to him.

"Night, Daddy," Jack replied before sending a glance in Ava's direction. "She'll be better soon."

The confidence in the young boy's voice was heart-wrenching to the Doctor. He couldn't stand to break his son further after everything that he had been through in the past few days.

"Of course she will," Rose replied, from where she was approaching from the other side of the room. The baby curled against her side and whined softly. She hushed him with a gentle circular pattern against his back. "Now sleep, Jack. Everything will be better in the morning."

Jack nodded and snuggled deeper into his covers.

The Doctor looked reluctant to leave the room, but Rose managed to coax him away from the chair that he had found himself seated in. She led him across the hallway into the bedroom. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Rose guided the Doctor down next to her. The silence was heavy between them, so she spoke with something that didn't need verbalization.

She passed the child still yet to be named in his father's arms without a word.

The new father cooed to the small bundle, letting his words wash over the child until he was coaxed gently into waking. He had his brown eyes and Rose's small, smooth nose. He ran his hand under the child's head to support him a bit better while he brought him up to his shoulder.

Rose kissed the Doctor's temple and let a single tear drop fall down her cheek and on to her husband's face.

"Ava's going to be fine," Rose assured him. True confidence rang in her voice, while she continued to stare at the Doctor getting himself acquainted with the child. "And, this little one seems to like you already."

Nodding, the Doctor agreed softly. "I should have been there for you," he whispered, motioning to the child beginning to fuss for his first feeding. "I should have protected Ava."

Lowering her top slightly, Rose took the child in her arms and began to nurse the fussing infant. He settled in contentedly while he balled his hands around his mother's shirt.

"You can't be there to save everyone, and I don't think Ava needed much saving," Rose told him softly, carefully concealing how terrified she truly felt when she was her only daughter glowing golden, like she, herself, had done in her dreams. "Besides, you're here now, and everything is going to be just fine."

"But-s" the Doctor started, but Rose cut him off.

"Some other time," Rose insisted. "Let's just be a family now, with two kids, and a baby—who still needs a name. You said you liked 'Sean,' right?"

The Doctor nodded his agreement, and studied his son's face as he stopped suckling and was raised by Rose to be burped. He looked like a Sean.

"What about 'Adric?'" the Doctor asked suddenly. "For a middle name? He was a brilliant kid—a brilliant man Gave his life to save us…"

Rose noted by the way the Doctor's voice changed that he was serious about this. She didn't dare interrupt him right away, for the hope of him getting a bit more off his chest about his past, but he didn't speak again.

"Sean Adric Tyler," Rose murmured, and the child turned to face her, giving a happy cooing noise. "It's perfect, and I think he likes it."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed wrapping his arms around Rose. He took a deep breath. They could deal with the ramifications of being trapped in this universe tomorrow, but for now he put all the thoughts out of his mind. He was just a man with his family and nothing was going to change that.


End file.
